Subnautica Fan Fiction: The Lost Pod Prt1 Splash Down
by CosmicHippie
Summary: This is a story following Jason Watt, the second survivor of the habitation vessel Aurora. In the intro of "Subnautica" it is said that there was only one survivor of the Aurora, you. But a lone pod was ejected from a jettisoned section of the Aurora, and Jason Watt was fortunate (unfortunate) enough to survive. Don't expect it to follow the game much facebook(.)com/SubnauticaFF
1. Chapter 1

Subnautica Fan Fiction

By: Ian Fox

Part 1

Splash down

Jason came back to consciousness with a dry gasp. He had been blacked out for a few hours and felt severely dehydrated. For a moment he wasn't sure where he was, but as the life pod bobbed up and down in the water it all came back to him. For a moment he sat in the strapped safety seat completely uncertain of where to go from here. He hit the release just as the pod was hit by a wave and he was pushed slightly forward causing him to topple from the seat. His knees banged against the shell of the pod loudly, and the pain shot up to his brain like a flurry of fireworks. For a few moments he just sat there crumpled in pain with the world around him slowly bobbing up and down in a sickening fashion.

Why had it all happen so fast, Jason wondered with pain clouded thoughts. Why couldn't he have had a few more minutes to wait, a few more minutes to figure out what had happened. He had been woken up by a loud crash and saw he was late to get to his station. Realizing this he had jumped up and let his cabin's automated closet dress him within moments, but he had no time to shower. Running down the hall he was suddenly thrown into a wall as another crash jostled the large habitation vessel. Suddenly the cool ambiance of the sterile white light was gone; replaced by darkness before the red emergency lights buzzed to life. The only noise Jason could hear over his own heart was the onboard notification computer, its volume amplified due to the emergency code red that had been initiated.

"Catastrophic fusion engine faluire-Unknown energy surge on all decks-Catastrophic hull damage-Captain has initiated emergency status on all decks- Report to lifepods-Sections 52A through 62A must be jettisoned to achieve safe emergency landing procedures," The notifications computer drones these updates continuously and only after Jason realized he himself was in section 53G, within those being jettisoned, did the computer add: "Jettisoned procedures initiated, Jettison will commence in two minutes."

Jason had two minutes to run the distance of a football field and find a life pod that was still functioning before this section was jettisoned from the main habitation vessel. He hadn't been doing the recommended exercises daily as he should have been and he was cramping up as he sprinted down the maze of hallways. No one was around, he hadn't seen another person since he had woken up, and he thought this was due to the fact that he had woken up after the schedule demanded he already be at his station. But there way usually someone milling down the halls at any given time. Maybe he had slept through an evacuation of his section, he didn't know, all he knew was that he had to get to those life pods or he'd be as good as dead.

As he rounded into the life pod bay there was only one visibly functioning as the computer announced that the jettison would commence in thirty seconds. He sprinted into the pod and fumbled with the controls until a countdown holographicly flashed across the walls of the life pod. The countdown was for twenty seconds but as the countdown in the life pod began the notifications computer of the habitation vessel announced that the ten second count down would commence in five more seconds.

"Computer!" Jason shouted to the life pod as he rushed over to a seat and began strapping himself in.

"Life pod computer communications initiated, how can I help you?" the computer answered in a feminine voice.

"How high are we from the planet's surface?" Jason asked tightening the last strap as he buckled it in, the notifications computer and began to count down.

"263.4 kilometers." The computer replied blandly.

"How long will this section of the ship remain in freefall after being jetisoned?"

"30 seconds." The computer answered.

Suddenly the notifications computer went silent; Jason was too busy talking to the life pod's computer to notice that the countdown had ended. Jason was jolted forward and he could feel the force of the entire section of the ship pulling him straight down. The life pod attempted to shoot itself from the bottom of the section, and the force of this caused all the blood to drive upwards into Jason's brain which caused him to black out.

"Computer?" Jason said after lying on the life pod floor and replaying the event over and over in his mind.

"At your service." The computer replied.

"Where is the habitation vessel Aurora?" Jason asked, uneasily finding his feet.

"Unknown. Projected trajectory places its emergency landing 200 kilometers to the south." The computer answered after a moment of intense silence.

"Were there any other life pods ejected from the Aurora prior to its landing?" Jason asked.

"One life pod was ejected from the habitation vessel Aurora." The computer replied.

"Was that this life pod, computer?" Jason's voice trembled at the idea.

"This life pod was not connected to the habitation vessel Aurora when it was jettisoned, and therefore has not been recorded as being ejected from the ship. The life pod that ejected from the habitation vessel Aurora has a flight path that puts it one to two kilometers from the projected landing of the habitation vessel Aurora."

"Does this life pod have the capabilities of traveling that far?" Jason was now checking the inventory of the life pod.

It had two days supply of rations and water that could last a week. There was a variety of different survival suits for a variety of different worlds. Since Subnautica was a world almost entirely covered in ocean the wet suit was the very first in the line up. He selected it and the computer dressed him. A locker slid open to his right and revealed a single air tank and pair of goggles.

"Negative." The computer replied.

"Yeah, I thought not. That would be too easy," Jason was attempting to keep his mind off the events that had happened prior to his blacking out and asking the computer important questions was helping him a great deal. "What emergency programs does this life pod have available?"

"The survival and emergency programs available are as follows: 3 dimensional constructions module, organism identifier, compound and elemental extraction module, water purification, short wave beacon, medical module, and air compression and filtration module."

"That's plenty to work with," Jason breathed a sigh of relief, he had expected a little less. "Before I go out and see what's around, what's the ecology of this area look like?" Jason asked the computer while strapping the air tank to his back and tightening the straps of his goggles.

"You are located on the edge of the second largest reef of Subnautica, only seven hundred meters from the Djúpr drop off, the deepest tectonic self of Subnautica." The computer answered quickly.

"Where is the other life pod located?" Jason curiously asked.

"The projected landing puts it and the Aurora into a sandy tidal zone."

"You know what that means, computer?" Jason asked, opening the pod's bottom hatch, filling the cabin with the sound of sloshing water and the smell of salt.

"Negative." The computer replied after a moment of processing.

"I'm going to be the first person to ever dive in the reefs of Subnautica." Jason replied happily, before a depression fell over him.

Jason thought about the fact that there could be wreckage all around the pod from the section of his ship that was jettisoned. Before he would attempt to explore his surroundings he had to know if there was any chance of him seeing floating bodies or massive damage from his section of the Aurora hitting the water's surface.

"Computer, where is the jettisoned section of Aurora?" He asked the computer after a moment of hesitation.

"It is currently ten point eight six kilometers beneath the surface and descending. The estimated time before its signal is lost is fifteen minutes. It missed the reef by two hundred meters." The computer answered numbly.

"Collect as much information as you can before then. When I get back I want a holographic report on the trajectory of both life pods along with the trajectory of the jettisoned section and Aurora." Jason demanded before putting the mouthpiece of the tank into his mouth.

"Affirm-" Was all the computer was able to say before Jason slipped into the water and disappeared through the hatch, which the computer automatically slid shut as soon as Jason was gone.

Luckily the Aurora had gone down just as they were orbiting the side of the planet that was morning. The water was clear enough for Jason to see a good thirty meters around him. The reef was very reminiscent of those that disappeared in the polluted age of humanity while still on Earth. They had orbited the planet a few times just to find a good place to colonize; but the planet was a perfect example of the discovery of symmetrical life.

The idea, when humanity first went into the stars to look for planets to colonize, was that there may be many different kinds of "life". But after traveling several hundred light years humanity discovered that all life was very much the same; comprised of hydrocarbons and mostly water. Subnautica was first planet that was covered almost entirely with water and when humanity stumbled upon it every scientist wanted to lead an expedition there. The Aurora was the first vessel to reach the planet and its primary task was to create a habitable pocket on one of the only stationary land masses on the planet. Its secondary mission was research, and in the few months it had been in orbit it had mapped most of the geography of the planet, with only the deepest depths unmapped.

Jason was momentarily overwhelmed; the vibrancy in colors on this planet was much greater than most other oceans on terrestrial planets. The reef was a few meters below the ocean's surface and it expanded in all directions. Everything was alive; the coral had tendrils coming from them and millions of fish-like creatures were swimming all around. He swam from underneath the pod and surfaced to fix the tightness of his goggles. The atmosphere was thinner than on earth but primarily had the same ratio of chemicals he gasped a few breaths before putting the mouthpiece back into his mouth. He looked around; from the surface there was only water in every direction, there weren't even clouds on this day. It was a frightening sight for someone who had spent most of his life in confined spaces. He went back beneath the surface and continued to just watch the reef below. Shoals of what he could only describe as fish darted in and out of spaces in the reef.

He watched as a group of particularly colorful fish disappeared underneath a large mound of coral. Jets of water pushed sand away from the mound as six slender legs shot out from underneath the coral and lifted the whole mass from the sand. Two fleshy tubes wormed their way from underneath the coral and extended upwards. The colorful fish scattered and the mound skittered over the other coral in a straight line until Jason couldn't see it any longer. Almost all of the life on Subnautica is unrecorded, only the largest creatures near the surface of the ocean had really been identified; and that was only because of the fact they disrupted the geological sweep because of their immense size. Because of how deep the oceans were and because of the abundance of life there was no telling how big the life in Subnautica's oceans could grow to.

Jason continued to swim around until he found a large area that had less coral than the area around it. All around there were pieces of debris from the section of the Aurora that had been disconnected from the main vessel. There were larger creatures that were trying to figure out what they were, it looked like. From underneath the soft sand octopus-like tendrils were attempting to move around the pieces of metal into large mounds. Jason decided this was a good place to start doing what he was trained to in case of this scenario. In the heads up display of his goggles he could see he had about another forty minutes of air left before he would have to make his way back to the life pod. He slowly dove down and came back up, over and over until he got used to the pressure and eventually touched the sand with his feet.

Tentacles grabbed at his feet almost as soon as he touched it, but they were too weak to hold him. He kicked away from the sand which caused a plume of the stuff to burst away from the ocean floor. Underneath he could see a body of whatever the tentacles belonged to. There was a section of sand that was cleared away that looked translucent but rippled as the water above it moved. Jason decided it would be best to stay a few feet away from the ocean floor from now on. He kicked towards a mound of metal that had rubber and plastic sheets screwed to a small bit of metal that had torn from a larger piece. Jason tugged at the rubber sheet until the scrap of metal came loose and slowly made his way back to the surface. Hitting a sensor on the side of his goggles his life pod's beacon began to blink on his HUD with the last ten minutes of his air he found his way back.

Coming up beneath the life pod the computer automatically opened up the bottom hatch. He pulled himself and the rubber, plastic, and metal scraps up into the pod and gulped in the oxygen rich air. Stripping the wet suit off, he sat in one of the pod's seats, catching his breath.

"Computer, you got that report?" Jason watched the space in front of him.

"Affirmative." The computer said, showing a geographical landscape above the floor of the pod. A single white holographic circle appeared eye level with Jason, it glided before breaking into another white circle and a smaller red one.

"The initial jettison." The computer reported. The white and red circles continued in their directions until the red circle suddenly spat out a blue speck of light that then rested just a small distance before a huge drop off.

"You're Jettison from the disconnected section." The red circle hit against a wall of light that represented the ocean's surface before drifting down. At the same time a green speck was produced from the white one that followed the same path until both rested on a point where the water was a little shallower.

"The only life pod to eject from Aurora" The computer said without any hesitation.

"It wasn't the only one! I'm here." Jason shouted at the empty air.

"You are not on the record." The computer answered him.

"Does the other life pod know about me?" Jason asked.

"You are not on the record." The computer repeated.

"Fuck you, computer." Jason snarled at the life pod.

After a moment of silence Jason continued hesitantly.

"Did you get any useful information from the sinking section of the ship?" Jason asked.

"Affirmative. There is a rescue beacon three levels from the level closest to the surface."

"Were any rescue beacons activated on the Aurora?" Jason quickly asked.

"Negative. Radiation destroyed the main cabin within seconds of the energy surge."

"What caused the surge, then?" Jason asked, getting frustrated.

"Unknown." The computer replied bluntly.

"Fantastic," Jason said resting his head in his hands. "Is there any way that an off-world station would know we need to be rescued?"

"Negative."

"So I have to fucking go down to the deepest depths of this fucking planet or I'm going to die here? Is that what you're telling me?" Jason shouted.

"Affirmative."

For a moment he just pulled at his hair, letting out a desperate cry. He had always wanted to visit the planet's surface, but not like this. He couldn't keep the faces of all his crew members out of his mind. They were all dead and he couldn't do anything about it. If it wasn't for his irresponsible act of oversleeping he would probably be dead too. He was lucky, but at the same time immensely unlucky.

"I need you to extract everything out of these." Jason sighed, pointing at the debris he dragged into the pod.

"Estimated completion: two hours ten minutes." The computer replied, an extraction module coming down from the ceiling of the pod which began scanning the materials.

"I'm going to eat. Let me know when you've got it done." Jason said with annoyance in his voice.

"Affirmative."


	2. Chapter 2

Subnautica Fan Fiction

By: Ian Fox

Part2: Peices

Jason had unconsciously fallen asleep atop the cushioned seats that were laid over the automated storage unit after finishing his first rationed meal. Upon falling asleep he found himself sat in front of the entrance exam of the "Star Gazer" program, a program that focused on the exploration and research of habitable zones around stars. He was stuck on a particularly difficult question dealing with the electro-magnetic properties surrounding a binary system of stars. The test was proving more difficult than he had expected, and he hadn't studied.

Jason had always been overly confident in his test taking abilities, even as a young boy in school. The testing was being held on the off-world station he had been born on in a large room with no less than a hundred other applicants. He made it this far because he had an inert ability to remember things from his education that most people would forget. His father would say he caught this ability from his mother, whom Jason had never met because she was hundreds of light years away cataloging the ecology of two different habitable planets.

He began to beat on his test with the eraser-less end of his pencil, weighing the risk of simply skipping the question. The person sitting next to him, who he would eventually come to know as Valentine, hushed him angrily, not wanting to be distracted by the rhythmic tapping. Eventually, he was able to work out the correct formulas to answer the question, but still had no idea if he was correct. Later on, while he would be reading his acceptance message, he would find out this was the only question he got wrong on the exam, only because he didn't properly show his work.

In the short future he would find himself being trained to conduct geological sweeps and biological analysis aboard the habitation vessel Aurora, the only ship he felt was ambitious enough to quell his sense of adventure. Being stuck on an off-world station will make you think any world is beautiful, especially one completely covered in a substance he had only ever seen in the public pool of his station.

The life pod was jostled by a rouge wave and he awoke catching himself from falling over. The life pod was dimmed and for a moment he couldn't remember where he was.

"Computer?" He called out, moving into a sitting position and rubbing his tired eyes.

The life pod's lights gently brightened, allowing time for his eyes to adjust.

"At your service." The computer droned in its sterile feminine voice.

"I told you to inform me when the extraction was complete." He motioned to the now empty space where the scraps he had dragged on board once lied.

"I attempted to, but you were already asleep."

"Next time, wake me up." He ordered.

"Affirmative."

Jason stood, stretching his back, which gave a few dull cracks as he did so. He walked up to the on board terminal and selected the 3 dimensional construction module's interface. Scrolling through the possible programs he found that most of what he could possibly make was out of his reach still. There were chemicals and materials he needed that he had no real idea how to gather on his own. Several of the 3 dimensional construction programs were lit up, though, indicating they could be constructed. He chose two, which required none of the same parts. Flippers so that he might have an easier time swimming around, and an organism scanner that would allow him to harvest the abundant life for the less readily available materials he needed.

"Computer, estimated time to completetion?" He called out to the life pod.

"Twenty minutes."

He walked over to the wet suit and air tank which he had thrown onto the life pod floor and checked the contents of the tank. It had only eight minutes of air left inside, so he brought it over to a section of wall he knew the air compression system was located. The wall slid open as he approached and he snapped the tank into place, an audible hiss emanated as the tank began to fill.

"What time of day is it computer?" he asked, still groggy from his nap.

"Dusk." The computer replied.

"I forgot the days are shorter here." He sighed.

There was a sudden pop and the air tank was disconnected from the compression system. He began to dress himself in the wet suit and strapped the air tank to his back. He picked up his goggles, but did not put them on. Instead he hit the automatic release for the latter that would allow him to exit to the top of the pod. As he made his way up the hatch automatically open and a cool wind blew into the pod. Atop the pod he sat watching as the sun set on his side of Subnautica. Every now and then he would sip at the air of his tank when the thin air would prove too much for him to bear.

He sat there for a while, in a slight depression. The dream had brought him out of the mindset he was trained to keep hold of, and now he couldn't help but think. Jason was stuck, he was fully aware of that. No one knew he was alive, not even the only other living human on the planet. That poor soul would think they were stuck there, likely to never see another living soul again. The Aurora still had another fifteen years by star date until it was scheduled to return to the off-world station it had been built on for maintenance. If he wasn't able to reach the rescue beacon at the bottom of the ocean only then would the rest of humanity realize the ship was not coming home.

He attempted to focus on future objectives, but couldn't. Atop the small bobbing life pod on an alien world he felt utterly alone. A fish with a phosphorescent sail leaped from the water in front of him before noisily splashing back into the now darkening water. Being on the planet was something he wanted to share with the few friends he had on the Aurora, but he knew he would never have that chance.

Re-entering the top hatch of the life pod a pair of flippers and a small rod-like devise were suspended in the air. He snatched up the flippers and strapped them lazily onto his feet. Plucking up the organism identifier he fumbled with it until a screen extended from one of its sides. There was only a simple on-screen command: "Scan". Below that "Organisms Discovered" was written in block letters with a zero just to its right.

He hit the scan button and waved it over the legs of his wet suit. A thin wall of light shot out from the scanner and the zero on screen changed to a forty two. The scanner was most likely picking up microbes and incredibly small organisms that remained on his suit from his first dive.

"Computer, are you linked to the organism identifier?" Jason asked, beginning to put the goggles over his face and readjust the straps of his flippers.

"Affirmative."

"Expect a lot of information to be coming in." He said, opening the lower hatch.

The water was much darker than he had expected it to be. The sun had gone down faster than he had predicted. The only light came from the organisms around him, but there was still very little. An organism the resembled a jelly fish, a few small fish like creatures that were huddled at an opening between two sections of coral, there was actually very little to see at night. He quickly prompted the organism identifier to begin a scan, and waved it back and forth across the area below him.

He noticed something strange, the wall of light was being stopped short directly below him. He attempted to scan that area again and still the light was unable to reach the bottom. Suddenly a red light began to emanate there and travel in a criss-cross fashion around him. He followed the light with his eyes, slowly turning as it came closer and closer to him. As the light became closer he realized that it was not simply moving though the water, it was traveling along a body. The light began to slow, only a meter or so from his face until it illuminated an eye-less head with rows of translucent teeth. The entire length of the worm-like body was suddenly lit with the same red glow. Two feelers that protruded from the head could now be seen moving up and down his torso.

A fear came over Jason he had never felt before, frozen in place. The worm began to come closer, its mouth beginning to open wide. It was at this moment that Jason began to swim as quickly as he could back to the pod. Behind him the worm shot towards him, catching hold of one of his flippers and nearly dragging him back down to the reef below. Struggling, a section of the flipper came loose, and he had just enough time to make it back to the bottom hatch of his pod while the sightless creature fumbled with the plastic and rubber section of flipper.

The hatch opened promptly, and he nearly flew out of the water, repeatedly smashing the button to close the hatch, even after it had hissed shut.

"Fuck!" He shouted, lying on the hard metal floor of the pod, breathing heavily and propping himself up to look at the now half-missing flipper.

"Do you require medical attention?" The computer asked with no sound of worry in its voice.

"No, computer, I'm fine. I won't be going out at night any longer." He answered, giving an exasperated laugh.

"Organism identifier has identified over one million organisms."

"Give me a moment." Jason begged, still shaking as the adrenaline in his veins began to dissipate.

Jason laid there for a while, laughing for a few moments, and then angrily beating on the floor of the pod. Eventually, though, he made his way over to the life pod's terminal and opened the 3 dimensional construction program again. He flipped through several different construction plans, attempting to find something of use. There was a rudimentary spear available and a composition scanner. The spear could be made now, but the composition scanner needed material he had yet to gather. He prompted the module to begin construction of the spear while he talked to the computer.

"Of all of the organisms identified, narrow down to those who have large amounts of metals in their bodies." He ordered.

"Thirty two organisms remaining." The computer responded.

"Narrow those down to organisms that have mainly mercury and aluminum."

"Six remaining." The computer said after a moment of processing.

"Update my goggles HUD to highlight those organisms in… black." Jason ordered, knowing he would never be out at night again and that black would have great contrast in the colorful world.

"You must connect the goggles to the-"

"Yes, computer, I know." Jason interrupted while peeling the goggles from off his forehead.

He stripped down again, replacing the tank into the compression system and using some of his store of water to wash his face. He stood there a moment, leaning against the life pod's wall. The immensity of the world around, the task he had to complete, and his utter loneliness all falling on him at once. He laid back down where he had fallen asleep earlier, letting out a frustrated sigh and fighting back tears. This was no time to start losing his mind.

"Computer, wake me at dawn." Jason ordered.

"Affirmative" the computer replied.


	3. Chapter 3

Subnautica Fan Fiction

Prt 3

By: Ian Fox

Underwater World

Jason took the sack he had fashioned out of one of the spare survival suits from the locker on his life pod and began scooping sand into it. It had been a month since he had crashed onto the ocean-world of Subnautica and he had learned from his few encounters with aggressive creatures to keep his head on a swivel, even when he expected no danger. This week had been difficult for Jason, the day and night cycle of the planet had caused him a lot of problems. He found himself constantly over extending the amount of time he actually had and would have to rush around endlessly in order to complete the tasks he had set for himself before the inevitable darkness of night would blanket the underwater world.

Jason was working too hard during the day because he refused to be in the ocean at night. Two weeks ago, while skimming through the programs in his 3-dimensional construction module he stumbled upon an RAV, a sophisticated aquatic drone, which he could use to explore and scavenge at night. He needed to begin the planning of reaching the section of the Aurora that contained the rescue beacon, but had no idea how to approach the monumental task. Each night, before eventually becoming too frustrated to think, he would pour over the 3-dimentional construction module searching for something that could help him.

After filling the sack with sand Jason struggled to swim upward to the life pod to drop off the material. The hatch on the life pod's belly opened as he approached and he heavily lifted himself and the bag of sand into the pod. After standing over the hatch letting the sack drain of water he smacked the button to close the opening and dumped the sand into the area where the extraction module would take up the materials he needed.

His life pod was in a much more disheveled state then it had been when it landed on the planet. Jason had stripped some of the wall panels in order to use them for the RAV, he had set up a giant holographic clock on the ceiling, and there were several names scratched into one of the walls of the pod. The names were all of the names of the people he could remember working with on the habitation vessel Aurora. One name, however, was scratched onto the outer shell of the life pod.

"Valentine." Jason said, going to the storage locker and grabbing the composition scanner.

"At your service." The computer answered.

"Could you get this extracted for me? I want to be able to start the construction of the RAV tonight." He asked idly, flipping through the composition scanner's settings quickly.

"Affirmative." The computer replied as the extraction module extended down through the holographic clock and began scanning the sand.

"Thanks, Val, when do you think it'll be done?" Jason asked, closing the composition scanner and watching as a beam of light began moving from one sand grain to the next.

"Approximately forty minutes." The computer replied.

"Alright, I'm going back out, I'll be back." Jason said, moving back to the bottom hatch of the life pod and hitting the button to open it.

"Night will fall in three hours." The computer informed Jason.

"Don't worry about me, Valentine; I'll be back before then." Jason smiled, slipping back into the water.

Over the past week he had gathered the materials he already knew he had available and had been exploring to find some form of copper. From the start he knew it was going to be the most difficult component to find. Most of the metal scraps that were around were made of the very outer shell of the Aurora, which was mainly comprised of steel. Although it was conductive, he specifically needed copper. Yesterday he had searched as far north as he could afford to travel before night. Now he began making his way south, waving the composition scanner over the underwater landscape as he went.

He had found a source of copper in the form of the scales of a large fish that could be found stalking it's pray from near the surface, high above the reef. It was a disfigured looking creature with crooked teeth and a singular, downward facing eye. But he had done the math, and he would have had to amass nearly two metric tons of equally sized fish in order to have enough copper to complete his project. He settled on trying to find another, more convenient source.

As Jason continued to gently swim farther and farther south he saw the environment begin to change slightly as he neared the Djúpr drop off. Coral became more scarce as the ocean floor dipped deeper below the surface of the water. With less coral came fewer creatures and fewer places to hide. A large crab-like creature was slowly moving from one mound of coral to another and looked up as Jason's shadow passed over it. Jason dove down a small distance before continuing to swim south, afraid the scanner may miss something if he was too far from the ocean floor. After a short while of swimming he stopped to rest for a moment.

Over the past week he had gotten used to the feeling of having nothing but water all around him. For a while it put him on edge or made him sick to even think about, but now he felt as if he were a part of underwater world. The spear he had created was now an extension of his body, proving itself useful in more ways than one. He rarely even noticed that he was holding onto it until he actually needed it.

In the sand below him there was a giant creature resembling an eel that was attempting to dig its way under a large rock. It would attempt from one side, swim around the rock a few times, and attempt the process again from another side. Jason watched it for some time, thinking about how this strange animal was his counterpart in the universe. Although there was what seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle directly in its way it continued to just try and survive. As Jason watched the creature suddenly began thrashing as it pulled a large crustacean from under the rock and began devouring it whole. The sight gave Jason a flush of hope as he pushed on, scanning other large rocks as he made his way farther south.

The composition scanner lit up as he passed it over a depression in the sand below. Jason could see on the scanner's screen that it had detected an extremely high abundance of copper. Staring at the depression in the sand he could see a yellowish green shimmering reflecting the light of the sun behind him. Jason put the scanner into the sleeve of his wet suit and got a grip on his spear as he slowly descended down towards the depression. Subnautica was full of surprises, and he had no illusions of the fact that most of the life he had encountered so far was deadly. If there was some surprise to be found below, he would be ready for it.

The pressure of the water was still something he had trouble with. His chest was beginning to feel very tight as he approached the depression in the sand. He had decided that the only way to overcome the pressure was to take it head on. He no longer eased himself into it as he dove towards the ocean floor, that took too long and wasted energy, instead he would slowly glide down. He would ease himself up to the surface, but that was only because if he didn't nitrogen bubbles would form in his blood and he would likely die.

Jason waved his spear through the water above the sand of the depression. As the sand scattered it revealed a mound of marble-sized orbs that shined in the light that they were now exposed to. A thin layer of translucent mucus surrounded the orbs and Jason used his spear to push it out of the way. He retrieved the composition scanner from his sleeve and scanned the orbs again. They're outer shell was comprised of twenty three percent copper. Jason looked around but saw nothing that could be stalking him or moving to stop him from gathering the orbs.

Quickly he grabbed up as much as he could hold before hitting the filter on his goggles to highlight the return beacon of his life pod. He began swimming towards it, gradually rising in the water as he went, some pressure releasing from his inner ears and chest. To his right he could make out the shape of what he assumed was the same eel like creature he had seen before. It was giving him a wide birth of area and was heading towards the depression in the sand. Nervously, Jason began to pick up his pace to leave the area.

Jason looked back to see the creature swimming around the depression, pushing sand from its edge into it. When it discovered the exposed spot of orbs and mucus its mouth began to open and close quickly. It turned towards where Jason had left the depression and began following him. Jason could see that it was following his scent in the water and continued at his pace. He purposely dropped a few of the orbs, hoping it would distract the creature long enough to lose his trail. But, as he watched over his shoulder, the creature continued to follow at a constant pace behind him passing over the orbs he had dropped.

As the reef began to reform around him he attempted to swim through a few openings and around structures to get the eel like creature off his trail. Unfortunately as he once again began to make his way back to the surface, he could see it still following behind him. Small creatures darted into hiding places as the creature continued to snake through the water behind Jason. He flipped around and began swimming backwards, studying the creature.

It was at least a good ten meters long, much larger than Jason himself. It was a light color of blue with several thin-brightly colored yellow stripes down its sides. There were two translucent fins on either side of its body and it had two large blue eyes that stared blankly forward. As it opened and closed its mouth, taking in water to follow Jason's scent, rows of thin backward pointing teeth were exposed.

As the creature began to pick up pace towards Jason he started to regret taking the orbs. He should have waited until tomorrow to gather them, by then he might have seen that this creature was protective of them and prepared for it. Unfortunately he didn't have the ability to turn back time and would now have to deal with this beast. He flipped back over to see how far he was from his life pod. Luckily, he could already see it bobbing some distance away.

He picked up his pace, thrashing his legs a little harder he could hear the water dragging against his ears. The creature must not have had any idea that the small shape in front of it was what it was hunting because it did not speed up to catch up to him. Soon Jason could barely make out the shape of the creature through the water that separated them. Jason turned up suddenly and began speeding towards the surface, trying to put even more distance between the creature and himself.

His legs were very sore as he coasted just below the ocean's surface. Jason glided smoothly under the flotation nodes of the life pod and quickly struggled into the pod dumping the orbs where the sand had been when he left and propping his spear against the wall. He sighed with relief, glad to avoid confrontation with the large creature.

"Valentine, could you-" He began but was cut off by a loud thump against the lower hatch of the life pod.

"At your service." The computer responded.

"Could you extract these orbs, and when you figure out what they are let me know. I bet their eggs." Jason asked the computer, a kindness in his voice.

"Affirmative."

"Do you remember our first date, Val?" Jason asked, going to the storage unit to replace the composition scanner.

"Negative." The computer replied numbly.

"We went to breakfast before we were scheduled to work," Jason began, looking over the wall of names. "You got eggs and I got French toast."

The computer didn't reply and another bump came from the bottom hatch of the pod.

"Do you remember that?" Jason asked, tracing over one of the names with his finger.

"Negative." The computer replied.

"It was the first time I had ever eaten French toast. You convinced me to get it and I hated it. But I pretended to like it for you." Jason explained.

Again the computer had no response.

"The person who served us our food," Jason said, snapping his fingers and going back to the storage compartment. "Her name was Grace."

Jason produced a shard of metal from inside the storage unit and went back to the wall, beginning to carve the name into it. His palm was still raw from the three names he had written the night before and after soaking in the salty ocean almost the whole day it stung painfully. But he didn't stop, even as the metal threatened to cut into his hand he continued until "Grace" was scraped into the wall. He tossed the shard of metal into the storage unit and sat down next to it, staring at the wall of names silently.

From the bottom of the life pod he could hear as the eel like creature scraped and bumped against its outer shell. The sound made him grind his teeth and rise to grab his spear before returning to his seat.

"The material you brought was confirmed to be unfertilized eggs." The computer said suddenly.

"I was right! Not very impressive though," Jason admitted. "Will there be enough copper to make our new friend tonight, Val?"

"There will be enough copper to create the RAV." The computer replied.

"Fantastic!" Jason shouted happily.

He began drumming his fingers against the wall of the pod behind him, watching the copper-coated eggs get collected into the extraction module.

"What should we name it?" Jason asked.

The computer gave no response.

"We'll call it Grace," Jason said definitively. "Jason, Valentine, and Grace in their water world."

After the extraction of the eggs was complete Jason asked the computer kindly to begin the construction of the RAV. Normally he would go out while the computer constructed things for him but there was still a bumping coming from the life pod floor beneath his feet. He stripped off his wet suit and replaced his new, double wide tank into the wall. Gears whirred as he approached but there was no longer a wall for them to move, so he just snapped it into place and walked back to where he was sat, content on watching the entire construction of his RAV.


	4. Chapter 4

Subnautica Fan Fiction

Prt 4

By: Ian Fox

Misery

Jason was sat hunched over the rather small screen of the RAV completely naked. While it was being built he had given himself a standing bath using the water the life pod had purified from Subnautica's ocean water. He had already lowered the drone through the hatch on the bottom of the life pod and was attempting to get the hang of controlling it. The computer had informed him of the manual file that could be accessed from the command module, but Jason only ignored her, confident he could figure it out on his own.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Jason groaned as the drone flipped upside down for the seventh time.

Angrily, he beat on the wall next to were he was sat and rubbed at his eyes. The holographic clock that was suspended above him showed he wasted half the short Subnautica night. Wasted, because he had predicted that he would be able to gather resources, when in reality he had struggled to make it maybe twenty meters. He saw a lot of creatures he had never seen before, though, and it kept his attention enough to stave off some of his isolation. For the first time since he had crash-landed, Jason felt as if he was making some sort of progress. Unfortunately this only made him more frustrated as he realized that he would need more than just a single night to understand the complicated controls of the drone.

"Hey, Val?" Jason called out, giving a heavy sigh and closing the drone's feed.

"At your service." The computer replied.

"Are you capable of controlling our friend here? It seems I'm useless." Jason admitted, laughing lightly.

"Negative."

"I thought not," Jason said indifferently. "I'll have to practice more."

"The drone's manual is available-"

"I know, Val. I'm just stubborn, you know that." Jason waved the words away as he stood and stretched.

Jason went to where he had slept every night so far, atop the storage unit, and lay down. His mind was still whirring and he stared past the clock above him with a vacant look, attempting to calm his thoughts. He took several deep, slow breaths before closing his eyes.

"Wake me after dawn, Val, tomorrow is always a busy day." Jason said before rolling over.

"Affirmative."

That night Jason dreamed of a world of sand. The world was expansive around him, a flat land with soft-white grains of powdery sand. He walked for as long as he could, staring blindly forward as if in a trance. Suddenly there was a distant rumble that stopped him in his tracks, a great wave of water in the distance. Looking down he saw water beginning to bleed through the sand beneath him, and the world around him beginning to suck him into the thick mud. He attempted to run, to find a way to save himself from the wave that was crawling towards him in the distance, its thunderous rumble growing louder in his ears. Soon that sound was too immense, he stopped to turn around just as the wave was about to reach him.

Jason was thrown from where he slept, the whole life pod was draped in red light and was being thrown around, and anything not inside or attached to the walls of the pod was tumbling around him. He felt the pressure of the life pod squeeze down on him before he heard a loud hiss and the pressure was released. He was thrown upward, landing heaving on top of his spear. Luckily, it was parallel to the life pod floor and didn't seriously harm him. The red light was suddenly replaced by a green one before returning to the dimmed lights he had set up for himself. The tumbling and trashing was replaced by a rhythmic bobbing.

"Computer!" He shouted angrily, rubbing his freshly bruised chest.

"At your service." The computer replied calmly.

"What the _fuck_ was that?!"

"A tsunami created by the Aurora's fusion engine reaching critical temperatures." The computer replied.

Jason was taken aback; he had forgotten that the outside world was still very much real. His anger was completely overwhelmed by a new emotion: intense dread.

"The other survivor, is it likely they lived?" Jason asked quickly, climbing up the life pod's ladder before it had a chance to extend all the way.

"Chances of survival cannot be calculated at this time, time elapsed since last location update from the habitation vessel Aurora is one month, two days, seven hours, and forty six minutes."

Jason groaned as the computer numbly spat out the information.

"Use the original locations then, they couldn't have drifted much farther apart!" Jason shouted into the open air.

"The chances of the life pod's occupant to survive the force of the habitation vessel Aurora's fusion engine going critical using original locations are approximately 43 percent."

"Jesus Christ…" Jason mumbled.

He was poking his head out of the top of the life pod. The ocean surrounding him was practically covered in foam and the water was incredibly still. To his west the sky was completely lit up by white light. There was electricity in the air that made him nervous enough to climb back down into the pod. He sat himself back down where he had been laying and buried his face in his hands. The event brought him slightly closer to reality, making the world around him seem much more lucid.

The idea of really, truly being the only human on Subnautica's surface made his stomach turn. He looked around him, at the disheveled state of the life pod and the now hundreds of names that were etched into the wall. For a moment he was stuck between the true reality and the one he had propped over himself in order to survive. Tears began to well up in his eyes and he fought to remain calm. But he couldn't help but crumple into a sobbing mass atop the storage unit of his life pod. He stayed like this for some time, until his body was too tired to continue.

By the time he finished he felt as if he had been stranded again. Even though this person was probably unaware of Jason's existence, he had shared something with them. The other survivor was probably the only person in the universe who Jason could relate with at this point. The solitude was bearable only because Jason was determined to not only save himself, but save the one person who he knew for sure was dreaming of salvation. If they were gone he would be doing it to just save himself; he had been determined to stay alive, determined to face any challenge, and he was determined to save that survivor.

If it was only him, was it even worth it? What did he really have to return to? The Aurora had been his life's work, and it was dead. Everyone who had been on the Aurora was dead. Any friends he had been able to make, any mentors who had taken him under their wing, anyone who he had met after leaving his home, they were all dead. A disturbing calm washed over the cabin and came to rest on Jason's shoulders. If the other survivor was dead, even if he managed to restore the beacon that was submerged at the bottom of Subnautica's ocean, he would have to spend years completely alone on the planet.

He would have to change his plans now. He couldn't go to the bottom of the ocean and activate the rescue beacon first, he would have to find the other survivor before he did that. He was tired of being completely alone. He was tired of pretending the cold methodical computer could understand what he was going through. Jason was just tired of this world. Perhaps finding the other survivor would bring him back; maybe give him some sort of deeper urge to fulfill his goals. But if they were dead, he wasn't sure he could make it.

If the other survivor was already dead, he would kill himself.


	5. Chapter 5

Subnautica Fan Fiction

Part 5

Alone

"Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue.

Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym."

Jason hadn't eaten in three days, at least, he assumed it was three days ago he last had a meal. He had lost weight since he had made his landing on Subnautica, but now he was on the edge of fading into dust. He had spent his time with all the lights off in his life pod, staring blankly into the darkness that now enveloped him. The day after he had learned of the Aurora's violent destruction he attempted to find his RAV so that he might be able to continue practicing. He didn't really see the point, but he had needed something to distract him from the constant dread that gnawed at his being. Unfortunately he had only founded pieces of the drone; he assumed it must have been smashed against something when the tsunami passed.

He was unwilling to move, now. There was so much progress he had to make, not to mention the progress he had also lost. Where would he even begin? And would it even be worth it? Jason had turned off the on-board computer, he couldn't stand it anymore. It would give him a false sense of companionship, and he didn't need that right now. What he needed was to get a third of a way around the world to find the other survivor of the crash, whether they were alive or not. But he was too overwhelmed to even know where to begin.

At this thought, Jason let out an exasperated sigh, letting his head drop into his weak hands. He was hungry, hungrier than he had ever been in his life. There were rations left from when he first landed, he had saved them when he found a cunning food source around his second week after being stranded. They were fish-like creatures with large eyes that made up a large percent of their body. Luckily they were very high in essential proteins and vitamins; even vitamin C was produced by a specialized gland in the creature's body. Jason opened the RAV control screen which lit up the cabin of the life pod in a dim light.

He stood heavily, putting his hand on the controls of the RAV to lift himself up. A prompt lit up on the small screen, but he ignored it. Shuffling over to the storage unit he pulled out one of the remaining ten baggies that stored a nutritious powder that only needed water to solidify. He hit a button on the wall and a gentle stream of water began pouring into the baggie. Before he went back to where he was seated he let the water run into his dry mouth, filling the dehydrated cracks that were forming on the sides of his tongue and giving him a moment of relief.

Heavily leaning on the controls of the RAV again he lowered himself down. There was a whirring coming from somewhere in the life pod's cabin, and it gave Jason a momentary pang of anxiety. He had dragged a few of the RAV's pieces back into the life pod to attempt to salvage them, but when he couldn't find all the parts he instead left them to rust in the darkness. Now, one of the propellers was spinning quietly in the darkness across the cabin from him. He even began to enjoy the sound, pushing the controls to speed up the propeller's motion. It even sent a cool breeze at his face, giving him a relaxing sensation. He sat with the air rushing towards him, taking small bites out of the now solidified and tasteless mass that would give him everything he would need to survive a few more days, if he so chose to.

When he finished the meal he sat still, letting the air continue to waft over him. He was still depressed, though, and alone. His mind was still occupied with the unrelenting need to travel to the only other life pod that survived the crash. But, he was still lost, with no where to start. He looked down at the spinning propeller that was barely visible in the darkness. Perhaps he could modify the original RAV design to be more like a boat, skimming across the water surface rather then stupidly flipping around under it. It would most likely be much easier to control and take up fewer resources. Unfortunately, it would have to be small, and likely take a large amount of time to reach its destination. If only there was a way to make it…

"Holy shit." Jason whispered in the darkness.

He jumped up, nearly collapsing under his own weight as he did so. He slammed open the control module and began restoring power to all the systems he had shut down. The lights flashed on, blinding him momentarily.

"Computer!" He yelled into the air.

"At your service." The computer's hallow voice came, causing Jason to grind his teeth slightly.

"Bring up tools in the construction module." He demanded, staring intensely at the screen in front of him.

A whole list was shown, one he had gone over more than just a few times. He selected a tool he himself had thought was strange, it was much too large for the devices and machinery that was available in the other programs of the construction module. It was a kind of wrench, Jason wasn't sure what kind, but it was at least as long as his arm and was able to be changed around to have varying uses depending on the task at hand.

"Computer, bring up the RAV."

The RAV he had already constructed came up on the screen and he began spinning it around, looking at the different parts and considering their possible uses.

"Computer…," Jason began, afraid to ask the question that was burning in his mind. "Is it possible to construct individual parts instead of the whole machine?"

"Affirmative."

His heart almost skipped a beat.

"Is it also possible to scale these parts up or down in size?" Jason closed his eyes, praying that the computer would repeat itself.

"Affirmative."

Jason began punching the wall above the screen. Of course! Why had he been so idiotic!? Of course you could! The programs in the construction module were so few that it was something he had been wondering about his entire time on the planet. Why would a survival program be so ill equipped? Because it actually wasn't all along, he literally could make any device as large as he wanted to as long as it could be constructed inside the life pod. He had taken several years of engineering before the Star Gazer program accepted him, all he would have to do is put the pieces together in a way that could be more than just useful. He still had a chance.

"Computer, select all of the controls and wiring that is used in the propeller system of the RAV along with the actual propeller itself." Jason said quickly, his blood truly pumping.

Suddenly all the constituent parts of the RAV's propeller system were alone on the screen, everything he needed.

"Scale that…," He looked around the cabin and at the propeller of the smaller RAV that was whirring quietly on the ground. "Twenty times larger."

The image didn't change, but a one in the corner of the screen began bumping up until it was a twenty. He hadn't figured out what that number was for and had unconsciously ignored it, not thinking that it might be something extremely useful. The propeller would be large enough to attach to the life pod, giving him a makeshift boat that would be able to travel large distances on the energy from the solar cells that were already in the life pod. His three days without using almost any of the life pod's system had given them time to completely charge, now it was only a matter of gathering the resources. Something easier said than done. But it was a place to start, and not at all a bad place, either.

Jason felt as if he had missed something completely obvious, and as he shouted and pounded on the walls of the life pod, happily dancing around, he couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed. He popped open the top hatch of the life pod, flying up the ladder. It was night, unfortunately, and he would have to wait until the next day to begin, but he wasn't on top of the pod to check the time of day. He was there to scream. To scream and shout until his dry throat threatened to fall apart completely. He screamed at the expansive ocean, at the stars, at himself. He jumped up and down, nearly slipping off into the water. In the end his voice was too horse to continue and he laid himself heavily down on the top of the pod, breathing heavily on the oxygen deprived air. Speckles of light were forming in his eyes and he was forced to climb back into the pod before he passed out.

He was far from being out of the woods. He still had to travel the insane distance, collect what he need to make it happen, survive that trip, and find the other survivor. But he was back. There was no time to mope around and feel sorry for himself; there was work to be done. The possibilities were limitless, so as long as he really put all of himself into the task at hand. He began sketching out the design in his head, exactly how he would need it in order for it to be successful. One propeller, two would be a much harder endeavor to accomplish and he wanted to keep it simple so that he could be done as soon as possible and replaced quickly if necessary. Next came the controls, the original RAV's controls were small, but they would be enough. He could create a larger screen for himself, so that he wouldn't be hunched over the smaller one he already had. What would he need most?

Copper.

This thought took him back slightly. Hopefully the unfertilized eggs he had found before were still available to him, if not that would be the resource he would waste the most time searching for. Even if they were there he would have to contend with the giant eel that protected them. It wouldn't be a very easy task to accomplish, but then again, since he had landed, rarely was anything easy for him. Luckily, he still had all of his equipment. A day ago he had considered dropping all of it out of the pod and diving down to the reef below at night, so that something could make an easy meal out of him if he didn't drown first. Looking back now he was glad that he hadn't completely given up hope. He knew there was still a chance, and that was the only thing that kept him from committing some form of suicide.

He needed to eat again. Jason would need the energy in order to begin his work tomorrow. He popped another one of the bags from his storage unit and put water into it. Even though he was still completely alone, he had purpose again, and that was enough for him right now. The last three days had been the darkest and most difficult of his life, but he knew he would have to put that behind him. What was most important now was keeping a level head, keeping his goals in sight, and making sure he not only achieved them, but also continued to try, even if he failed. Failure was inevitable, what he would need is the courage to face that failure and continue to press on. He owed it to himself; he owed it to the only other person that was on this planet with him.

Tomorrow he would find himself ready to take on this world, alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Subnautica Fan Fiction

By: Ian Fox

Part 6

Strength

Jason didn't realize how weak he had become until he was struggling across the open water above the southern edge of his reef. He let himself sink for a moment, breathing heavily on the air contained in one of the two tanks on his back. Earlier he had gotten together all the pieces of the original RAV and let the computer break it back down again. With a little searching he found enough metal for another tank. Unfortunately he would have to switch it out manually; he didn't have enough time in the day to make a valve that connected to both. There was very little time to waste and each moment that passed was another moment he could have already finished his makeshift boat.

Of course, there was another problem, but he had been willingly ignoring it for as long as he could, just trying to take everything he had to do one at a time. When he finished the boat he wouldn't be able to try and reach the other survivor, not before getting the rescue beacon. Even if his idea for getting to the survivor worked he couldn't guarantee that they'd both be able to make it back to where his section of the Aurora had sunk. But he couldn't worry about that right now; it was too big of a problem for him to deal with.

Jason straightened himself in the water, continuing to pump his legs. He had his spear, a bigger sack, and his composition scanner. The white dunes had partially covered the southern edge of his reef, and if he didn't have HUD of his goggles to guide him, he would have likely lost his way. He swam parallel to the ocean surface watching as creatures attempted to move the sand around, searching for whatever they could scavenge. He thought it was almost poetic that he was supposed to be a part of a civilized species, even though he had technology at his disposal that could do things the natural world couldn't; he was completely at the mercy of the world around him.

When he made it to the sandy dunes he began to drop down slowly, he wasn't sure if the Eel's nest was even still there, but if it was he would want to see it first before making his move. Jason glided silently above the rolling sands, waiting to see the large rocks he had passed the last time he was here. He stopped to rest again, flipping over and coming to rest in the crest of one of the dunes. Looking up he struggled to get enough air from the tank he was connected to. He shouldn't have let himself fall so far into his depression. If he had just stopped and collected himself, if he had been capable of that, he would have made these decisions when his body was better suited. He couldn't dwell on that now; the most important thing was looking ahead.

He flipped over again, driving his spear into the sand and pushing himself forward. In the distance he could make out the shadowy shapes of the boulders; Jason was on edge now. Out in the open he wasn't safe, since he had been on the planet he had seen many creatures that could easily make a meal of him. When he reached the rocks he used them as cover, moving carefully between them, keeping his head on a swivel and his spear tight in his grasp. He was close now, only a few hundred more yards and he should be at his destination. When he found the area he couldn't help but be upset. There was nothing there, no depression, no eel, nothing but sand. There was nothing around, the only creatures he could see were a couple of crustaceans scurrying away from his shadow as he rose up above where the depression had once been.

Jason pulled his composition scanner from inside his sack and waved it at the sand, perhaps there was something left hidden. But something wasn't right. Each time he scanned over the sand only organic proteins would show up. He attempted to scatter some of the sand with his flippers. As the loose sand settles there was something strange happening underneath. Two long feelers rose up from the sand, prodding towards him. Behind them came the eel's head, its mouth gaping with sand falling from between its teeth. Its two large blue eyes were fixed on Jason, who was attempting to slowly drift backwards, but he was in the center of the clearing now, the closest place to hide was too far away. All at once the Eel pulled itself up from the sand, and began circling Jason. Slowly, without any fast movements he let the composition scanner fall from his hand and he got a grip on his spear, keeping it between him and the creature's head. But it was moving quickly, going around him faster and faster.

The sand beneath them began to swell upward, creating a white cloud that was getting harder and harder to see through. Jason knew that with every passing moment the situation was tipping ever more towards his own demise, and the predator's success. Jason drove the spear forward, missing the creature's eye and glinting off its thick scales, in his moment of being open, without guard, the eel made its move. It quickly dove beneath him, opening its mouth and driving itself upward, Jason watched in horror as the creature's mouth enveloped him. Perhaps it was instinct, or a reaction based purely on fear, but Jason managed to bring the spear to his chest, between him and the creatures lower jaw. The creature bit down, its top teeth crashing into the tanks on his back, he only had enough time to drive the shaft of his spear between two of the creature's lower teeth, barely keeping them from driving into his chest. Again and again the Eel forcefully tried to bite down, and each time Jason grew weaker. It felt as if his arms were about to break, he could feel muscles in his arms threatening to rip, and his back was being smashed to a powder by the tanks. Besides the noise of the water rushing past his ears, he could hear his heart beating.

It was almost comforting, the rhythmic thud in his ears. The creature began to calm, as if it were trying to understand why Jason was still in one piece. This moment of calm wasn't lost on Jason, who adjusted the spear in front of him and attempted to push down the Eel's lower jaw so that he might be able to wiggle out. The creature's instincts kicked in and it began to slowly bite down, increasing the pressure steadily. Its lower teeth were only a few centimeters from Jason's chest. His arms were shaking, running only on the adrenaline that was quickly dissipating from his bloodstream. With a quick upward jerk the creature's teeth found their way into Jason's chest, driving into his ribcage. At the same time Jason heard a new noise, as if a pressure was being released. The creature began thrashing harder, but opened its mouth large enough to throw Jason out.

The mouth piece of his tank was ripped from his mouth, the tank it was connected to was still in the creature's mouth. It had pierced the second tank Jason had brought with him but that one was still strapped to his original tank. Compressed air was spewing from the tank and out of fear the creature was smashing itself on the ocean floor. Jason began drifting upward, blood oozing from holes in his suit. He watched as the streams of blood blossomed upward, as if they were fighting to get out of the sea any way they could. He didn't have enough time to decompress himself, if he rushed to the surface, if he even could, it would kill him. This was it; this is where he would die. After everything he had been through, all the pain and depression, so much stress, he was going to die. To be honest, though, Jason was a little relieved, there was so much he would have had to do, and this wasn't his world. He wasn't supposed to be here, _he wasn't supposed to be here_. He let some of the air escape from his lungs, closing his eyes; he was ready to drift away.

"Jason, I'm so proud of you, you've come so far." Dr. Watt said, with a clear air of pride as he punched at his son's shoulder.

"Thanks, dad, but… but I don't think I'll make it." Jason said, trying not to meet his father's eyes.

Jason had just finished his first entrance exam to the Star Gazer program, the same program his mom left him for.

"What do you mean? You're twice as sharp as these other kids." reassured the boy, putting his arm around him and walking their way through the crowd of children who were still squeezing out of the testing room.

"Yeah, but maybe I don't have what it takes, dad. Maybe I'm not strong enough." Jason sighed, stopping to run his fingers through his hair and stare at his feet.

"Not strong enough? Buddy," His father pushed his chin up so that Jason was looking into his eyes. "Do you know what your mother said to me after you were born?"

Jason shook his head, wiping away a tear that was crawling down his cheek.

"She said 'This boy is going to do things you and I only dreamed of. Whatever he sets his mind to, he'll achieve it' and she was right. I mean look at you! I was at least two years older than you and they didn't accept me into the initial testing. You've already come farther than I could." His father was serious, which was strange because he always had a playful demeanor.

"But what if I fail? I don't want to disappoint you…" Jason mumbled.

"Son, you won't fail. If you try, you will succeed. I know that for a fact. You're too stubborn to fail, just like your mother," Dr. Watt said, embracing the boy. "And if you try your hardest, if you really give it your all, I won't be disappointed. I'll be proud to say I had a son that had the courage to never give up."

Jason flipped around, the pain in his chest was intense, but not crippling enough to stop him. Looking through the kicked up sand from the trashing monster he could see his spear. Kicking hard he dove down to it, struggling to get a grip on it. He didn't have much air left in his lungs; his sight was already darkening into a smaller and smaller circle. He could see the mouthpiece of the air tank whipping through the water and he kicked off the white sand, grabbing at it. When he got a hold of it the creature thrashed harder, sending him tumbling through the water. He wrapped some of the slack around his arm, which put pressure on his chest, sending pain over his body. He grunted the last of the air in his lungs out as he pulled the mouthpiece to him, taking in as much as he could before he was whipped around again.

Using the tube as leverage he drove his feet into the creature's head so that he was standing over it. Its eye was looking around; Jason could see the fear in it, a fear that was all too familiar. Flipping the spear around so that it was pointing downward, he drove it down with whatever force he had left inside him. The creature began thrashing even more forcefully, heavily smacking against the sand below. With a sudden burst it flew forward, if it wasn't for the fact that Jason had wrapped his arm with the slack of the tank's tube he would have been left behind. Instead he was being dragged behind the beast as it bolted forward, his spear still stuck in its eye. It only came to a stop after slamming heavily, head first into one of the giant boulders that was sat at the clearing's edge. The creature twitched slightly before slowly drifting down, either dead or unconscious, Jason couldn't really tell. He was too busy violently sucking in air from the mouth piece, attempting to fill his lungs.

He sat there for a moment, floating over the beast, trying to calm himself. He had forgotten about his chest, and now as he struggled to expand his lungs enough to catch his breath all he could feel was the pain from his wounds. Painfully, Jason grabbed the spear that was still stuck in the eel's head and twisted it out. Using the blade at the end of it he cut free the tank that was strapped to the ruptured one. He would have to carry it, which would be extremely painful, but even worse was the fact that he wouldn't have enough air to make it the rest of the way back to his pod. Half dragging the tank, half carrying it, he walked along the ocean floor towards the area where the creature had emerged. Light from above the water's surface glinted off the screen of his composition scanner, which he painfully scooped up out of the sand.

As quickly as he could muster he scanned the area until the scanner landed on the high abundance of copper, which was still shrouded by sand. Digging around he grabbed enough of the orbs to fill his sack to the brim. Without wasting time he aligned himself with the northern marker on his goggle's HUD and started kicking his way back. Even through the strain of carrying the sack and air tank he could feel himself shaking. Jason was supposed to survive, he was supposed to get himself through this, and this wasn't going to be where his story ended. This planet was not going to kill him.

Eventually the tank was empty, but by then he was only about a foot under the water's surface. He flipped onto his back and drifted slowly, trying to breathe as calmly as he possibly could so as to not asphyxiate himself on the oxygen deprived air. To keep himself busy he tried to assess his wounds, with his free hand he felt his chest. It was wet and warm, looking at his hand he could tell he was bleeding pretty badly. Feeling it again he traced the long gashes, which angrily shot pain up to his brain. The teeth of the creature hadn't been able to smash through his rib cage, but had been able to rake deep wounds across his chest. He could feel a few bits of tattered and minced flesh that should have already separated from his body, but hadn't.

Gulping in some air he flipped over again to check his progress. His pod was nearly on top of him. He straightened himself in the water, really trying to fill his lungs so that he would have enough air to get to the bottom hatch of the pod. When the hatch slid open and he pulled himself in the pod automatically began emergency medical procedures. Arms extended down from the top of the pod, dragging him away from the still-open hatch and started treating his wounds. After a few moments of intense pain Jason passed out from exhaustion, and began dreaming of what it was going to be like to get off this god forsaken planet.


	7. Chapter 7

Subnautica FanFiction

Part 7

By: Ian Fox

Ingenuity

Jason woke up from the black abyss of sleep and rolled onto his back to see the sterile light of the clock above him. It read out a time that let him know it was morning. Although Jason wanted a few more hours of sleep he swung himself into a sitting position, kicking away the scattered electronics and pieces of machinery that covered the life pod's floor. He stood and looked over the mess before starting a few simple stretches, he had bags under his eyes and every joint in his body would crack as he went through the motions. As he leaned forward to touch his toes his chest sent out a small ache of pain where he had been wounded about a week and a half before. Regardless of this, Jason felt the best he had since he had crashed on Subnautica.

He was making progress, and a lot of it. Last week he had set up a structure around his pod that allowed him to walk around and work on his project without ever really having to get into the water. Jason had accomplished this by scraping the rest of the life pod's panels and collecting an exuberant amount of debris to make floating walk ways on what he decided would be the back of the pod. After finishing his stretches and giving his neck a good crack he followed a small path that was clear of debris over to the air compressor, where a small air tank was propped up by a metal rod so that it could fill properly. He pulled on it, causing the metal rod to clang noisily onto a heap of clutter.

The tank Jason had unfortunately lost to the eel creature actually came in handy when he needed to find a way to breathe above the water's surface. The small tank he made by breaking down the larger, destroyed tank was connected to a utilitarian face mask made from a mouth piece and some scrap plastic. He could easily let a small amount of oxygen seep out from the mouth piece and still have enough to stay conscious in the deprived atmosphere. The entire set up was ingenious, or at least Jason thought so, and had allowed him to work quickly and efficiently on his project.

Carrying the small tank back over to the storage locker he flipped it open and grabbed an already cooked fish-creature from a stasis box and gingerly popped a few shreds of flesh into his mouth before replacing it back where it had been lying. The stasis box was made from an advanced micro-organism research module that slowed the life cycle of certain alien bacteria. All Jason had to do was strip it down to the bare stasis chamber, scale it up to the size he needed, and connect it to the solar energy reserve of his life pod. It had taken him a few days, but he found that he would need constant breaks from the intense Subnautica sun and it had given him something to keep his mind occupied.

Jason figured out that if he kept his mind busy on things that _had_ to be done it would fight off his crippling depression. He worked from sun-up to sun-down and sometimes even through the night, it was all he had to do until he finished and needed to figure out which step to take next. Jason was nearly done with his project, another day or two and there would be nothing left but to test out his idea to see if it worked the way he wanted. If it didn't, that would mean more work, but if it did that would mean he would have a difficult choice to make.

Jason dipped his head to fill his mouth with filtered water, sloshing it around before grabbing his tattered wet suit from the locker. The chest of the wetsuit had been ruined by the beast and Jason really only used them to keep his legs and feet from burning in the intense sunlight. After tying the arms of the suit around his waist he looked down on the large, jagged pink scar that branched over his chest. Luckily for him the medical programs that the computer had were able to restore a good amount of his muscle tissue, and after he had woken up, sprawled out on the life pod floor, he found that there was only a slight pain when he leaned over.

"Valen- Computer?" Jason stumbled over his words, it was strange to hear his own voice, these days he did very little talking.

"At your service." The computer replied.

"How are the weather patterns today? Saw some scary looking clouds heading our way around sunset last night." Jason asked, rummaging through the piles of mess to find the tools he needed.

"Optimal weather patterns, cloud cover, chance of light precipitation: 43%" The computer replied quickly.

"Thank you, Computer." Jason coughed, slipping a few tools into his waist and the rest into a hand made belt that he swung onto his shoulder.

Jason strapped the small air tank to his thigh and secured the face mask over his nose and mouth before releasing the latter and climbing up. Popping open the top hatch of the pod Jason wasn't greeted by the usual intense heat and blinding light, instead the clouds above him glowed orange, which reflected off the still surface of the water, giving his surroundings a very eerie feel. Jason grunted as he hoisted himself to the top of the pod before making his way down a latter he had bolted to the side of his life pod. He landed lightly on a platform that wrapped around the two insanely large RAV propeller systems. The other two platforms that had the rest of what he needed to complete his project were nearly empty, with only a few more pieces strapped down to keep them from sliding over the edge and into the water.

When he first started he didn't realize just how hard it would be to take apart the two propellers in his life pod and reassemble them outside. Jason had been forced to create three of the propellers because he would find himself losing the smaller, important pieces pretty often. The third propeller was the mess that plagued the life pod's cabin, but was also his saving grace. Without it, he might not have been able to get so far, so fast. He threw down the belt of tools in front of the two propellers and started where he had left off the night before. Removing the straps from a large engine piece he plucked a wrench from his waist and held it with his teeth as he weakly struggled to pick up the piece before bringing it over to its corresponding propeller. Slamming it heavily into one of the propellers he worked on getting it fixed into the rest of the engine.

It took him a while before it was properly secured, but Jason liked that. The longer he worked, the less he had to think, and by taking his time he knew there was a smaller margin for error later on. After checking to make sure all the connections were correct and tightened he stood up, stretching his back again. His eyes landed on the large scrapes that spelled out "Valentine" on the side of his life pod. Jason would do this often, and each time he could feel his mind attempt to slip back to the delusions he had suffered from weeks before. But he was stronger now, and would shake off the feeling before going back to work. Perhaps that's why he had decided to make this side of the pod the back; so that he would have a constant reminder of the fact that he wanted to get well away from this cursed planet.

He returned to his work promptly, taking advantage of the cloud cover he worked through all of his regular breaks. By the time the orange sky above him began to darken into an ominous red he was tightening the top cover of his first completed propeller. There was something about it, being done, that filled him with a feeling Jason couldn't recognize. It was almost a mix of extreme accomplishment and bottomless fear. The cover was on; all he had left to do was test it to see if the thing would actually work properly. If it didn't it was likely Jason would have to take apart most of the propeller just too figure out what he had missed, and God forbid if he didn't have the correct part. Something like that could push his work forward another week. But there was nothing he could do now. The two systems were conjoined and he would have to finish the second before he could test either.

Jason was having a hard time seeing how much time he had left before nightfall. He was still very much weary of being out after dark, this was when the most terrifying predators would emerge and begin to hunt. Even though it was no longer necessary for him to be _in_ the water, he'd be damned if it was worth the risk. Jason couldn't afford to get hurt again, and next time he might not be lucky enough to make it back to his pod. But, since there was still a good amount of light from the sky above he decided he would connect one more piece to his second propeller before heading back inside. As he was tightening one of the first connections a cool drop of rain smacked onto his back.

"Woah…" Jason whispered, looking up to see large globs of water come splattering down on him and his life pod.

Jason thought he heard the large drops smacking against the water, but as he turned to look upon the scene he found that the ocean behind him was sparkling with phosphorescent blues and greens. He stepped to the edge of the platform to get a better look. Although the surface of the water was harder to see through with the darkening sky Jason could easily make out the shapes of thousands of strange creatures that were hugging the water's surface. They were almost squid-like, with several lighted orbs over the length of their tentacles, which were reaching out of the water towards the sky; ask if the creatures were trying to climb the large drops up into the clouds above.

Jason was awe struck because in all his life he had never seen so much life in one place. For a moment Jason was completely captivated by the scene, the entire ocean in front of him a stage for the dancing creatures. He retreated back into his pod before returning with a slick-winter jacket from where he stored his wet suit and grabbed a handful of meat from his stasis box. He sat on the platform with his back against his pod, popping bits of the cooked meat into his mouth as he watched the creatures continue their dance. But when he finished his meal and crawled over to the edge of the platform to get a better look at some of the creatures the rain suddenly stopped, and the millions of dancing lights quickly retreated back into the dark waters below.

Jason's ears rang from the sudden silence that was left behind, but there was a smile on his face. The most important part of survival, it seems, was to take the good and the bad equally. Things would happen that would seem tragic, but life was balanced. For each obstacle Jason would have to overcome he was certain there would be some way of surpassing it so that he could get ever closer to his goal. The smile still on his face, Jason climbed back up and disappeared into his pod. He stripped off he tattered wet suit and replaced the small air tank how it had been in the morning and laid down atop the cushioned storage locker. He had already been tired when he awoke so it wasn't long before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Jason was alone in the dark. He looked down, but was unable to see himself; he looked around, but there was nothing to see. He turned in circles, or at least he thought he was, until a tiny spec of light suddenly sparked in the distance. As he focused on it other lights began to shine as well. One was lit so close to his face it blinded him momentarily. But when he was able to see again he found that the light was one of a giant creature's tentacles. Following the lights he could see the creature was massive in the darkness. Lights behind its eyes were a menacing red and they stared down at Jason with great intensity. Jason was not afraid though. He stood there, studying the creature. One of the lights began to approach him, but still he had no fear. It stopped just short of his feet. Although he could not see his own body he felt himself step up onto it and began making his way up, towards the creature's head.

It continued to stare him down, as if it were unsure of his intentions. Jason wasn't sure what he was doing either, but he knew, even if he wanted to, there was no threat he could possibly present. A rumble began to surround him, making the lights around him shake and widen. They shone more intensely with each moment, and Jason found himself looking away to keep from being blinded. When he looked up again the world was no longer dark, and the creature was gone. Instead there was a world of white, a sterile clean white that gave no hint as to its dimensions.

"Jason?" A familiar voice called out from behind him.

As he turned the world warped, and when he saw who was calling him he found that he was back in the cramped halls of the Aurora. The girl in front of him was wearing the standard jumpsuit given to all research scientists aboard the ship. Her blonde hair was pulled into a bun, a wooden stick diagonally held it together.

"V-Valentine?" Jason whispered, feeling tears begin to well up in his eyes.

"Where have you been? You're late," Her face held an expression of annoyance, and she crossed her arms. "We're not going to get to go to breakfast now."

"I-I'm not sure…" Jason's head began to pound; the pain brought him to his knees.

"Jason? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Valentine rushed towards him, crouching to grab a hold on his shoulders.

Jason looked up to see her worried green eyes staring into his own. He reached up to touch her face, to feel the warmth of her skin again.

"We should get you to medical." Valentine said, moving before Jason's fingers could touch her cheek.

Jason began to sob, he just couldn't help himself. Valentine continued to talk but her voice began to fade away. Jason squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head.

"You're dead!" He screamed into the darkness behind his eyelids.

"Everyone is dead!"

Jason woke up to a dark cabin. Tears covered his face and the space behind his eyes was burning. He sat up and swung his feet down. He propped his elbows on his knees and continued to cry in the darkness of the life pod's cabin.

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	8. Chapter 8

Subnautica Fan Fiction **The Lost Pod**

By: Ian Fox  
Part: 8

Direction

Jason awoke with a smile, today was the day. He had already triple-checked the two propellers, and he would check them again before attempting to start them up. If they worked it would mean that Jason would be one step closer to safety, but if they didn't it could mean several more days, perhaps even weeks, of hard work and frustration. But they would work; Jason had to believe that if he wanted to keep his determination. After getting a meal in his belly and clothing himself properly he practically dove through the bottom hatch of his life pod. At what he had decided was the back of the pod he began to work from bottom to top to check the different systems of the two propellers.

He did so with haste, though, because each wasted moment was one he could not afford, and even though he believed he would have already found a problem if there was one, he forced himself to check again. Here, near the crash site of his section of the Aurora, there was plenty of material and food, but he had no real idea if where he ended up would be so fair with the lifestyle he was being forced to live. The question that was stuck in his mind was the one of where to go first; would he travel to the survivor's life pod and attempt to find them, or would he try to get to the bottom of the Djúpr drop off on his own and retrieve the rescue beacon? His life pod would have been able to make the decent, if he hadn't purposely ruptured the hull several times while attaching the two propellers.

Trying to find the other survivor was clearly the easier option, just align the life pod and make the journey, but it wasn't clear if it was the correct one. Jason would have to travel for at least a week just to get to the approximate landing site of the other survivor's life pod. There wasn't any guarantee they would still be there or even still be alive. Even if they were and Jason found them they would be forced to travel back, perhaps no better suited to face the task, and make the decent. Unfortunately that would mean at least a month of being stranded before they would even be close to attempting a decent. Unconsciously Jason pinched his finger between two gears; this wasn't the task at hand, he had to pay attention to what he was doing. After a short time of speed-checking Jason emerged out of the water into his life pod, breathing heavily as he stripped off most of his gear and sat heavily on the cushioned top of his storage locker. Just by Jason's feet on top of a cushion cut from the life pod's emergency seats was the black screen of the RAV's control panel.

"Moment of truth," Jason said, a small smirk on his face and heart pounding. "Please, just give me a shot."

He hit the power on the side of the screen and was greeted with blank blue before white code rapidly sputtered downward. Suddenly the camera that was at the front of his life pod began feeding a picture of the endless ocean outside. The power and camera were working, at least, which was a relief. Jason grabbed up the separated controls from beside him on the storage locker and closed his eyes. He sat for a moment, feeling the timid waves gently rock the pod. With a labored breath the pushed forward on the controls and for a moment nothing happened. But a rattle began that sped up into a buzz that filled the life pod cabin and Jason could feel that his momentum was building. Opening his eyes he fixated on the screen. It was difficult to tell how fast he was moving, or if he was at all, so with controls in hand he began to tip toe to his smaller tank and face mask. As he was strapping it on he felt that he was moving with some speed now, the small wakes beginning to smack more heavily against his pod.

After getting the tank strapped to his leg he stepped for a clear spot in the mess of his life pod floor, at the same time the life pod began to tip towards its rear, sending Jason toppling into a gathering heap of jagged metal. The pain rang out over his body and he had only a moment to notice the pod was continuing its roll until it would be on its back. He fumbled to the top of the storage locker, which was now nearly vertical, and grabbed up the controls. The pod abruptly flung itself the rest of the way, sending Jason sprawling over more of the back-up propeller. In one motion Jason yanked the controls back which slowed the buzz until it faded into silence. Jason crawled from the heap of debris and rolled onto his back. He placed the controls on his chest and began to giggle until it grew into a livid laughter. He clapped his hands and drummed on the ceiling of the pod behind him. It had worked, not only that but it had worked too well, this was undoubtedly the best mistake he had ever made.

After catching his breath for a moment and collecting himself he popped up to his feet and jumped to smack the bottom hatch release. It opened, with light from Subnautica's sun bursting into the pod. Jason grunted as he jumped to catch the lip of the hatch and pull himself up. The bottom of the pod was coated with a green slime and translucent invertebrates jetted through it between the sagging remains of their ooze nests. Jason's skin crawled and he carefully scooted through the gelatinous goop to attempt to figure a solution to his new problem. Flipping the life pod back over would be difficult, but entirely possible. Jason hopped back into the pod and changed to his large tank; pulling on his goggles he grabbed a length of chain, long rod, and a heavy engine piece. Tying the rod to one end of the chain and looping it around the engine part he jumped back up through the hole, lowering the engine part as close as it could be to the water, the rod on the other end of the chain banged firmly into place across the opening of the hatch.

Using the chain to steady him, Jason stood, trying to compensate for the slick goo that coated the pod's bottom. But once he was at too steep of an angle he slipped, letting go of the chain and splashing into the water. Jason wasn't sure of how far he had gone but he knew it was east, towards the Aurora. As he began to focus he could see that he was above a jagged valley filled with aquatic vegetation and sea life. Jason had avoided the area because on the nights where he couldn't sleep he would watch large lights snake through the water, all coming from this direction. The valley itself was shrouded by the bright green tops of lush kelp-like plants, above that canopy small and respectable sized fish darted back and forth from below in the darkness of the flowing canopy back up again to the open expanse of lit water above. The tops of the plants all stopped just below the rim of the valley, which looked to be smoothly cut aside from a jagged stone obelisk on the farther side of the valley from Jason.

Jason kicked smoothly, trying to save energy, towards the obelisk trying to map the distance in his head. The foliage below him looked like a glowing underwater lake, the bright green fans rolled like waves as the water flowed over them. But there was no time to admire the scenery; Jason began to dive to reach the top of the structure. Grabbing a hold of the slightly pointed top he pushed himself to skim over the rock until he reached its base. It was almost the same width all the way around aside from a section about a quarter of the way up that looked to have crumbled away. Good enough, Jason thought to himself, it would have to do. He sped back to the life pod, struggling to climb up the slick side before ducking inside.

"Computer?" Jason asked, huffing and digging around in the mess.

"At your service." It responded.

"How much one inch steel rope can you make right now?" Jason asked, grabbing up a pulley and winch he had used while constructing the propellers and throwing them to a clearer part of the pod's ceiling.

"Seventy six meters." The computer responded after a moment of calculation.

"That's not enough," Jason sighed. "How about carbon, fabric, that kind of thing, I haven't used much of that."

"Four hundred and sixteen meters." The computer stated after another pause.

"Wow," Jason chuckled. "Make two fifty. Oh, how much does this life pod weigh with the propellers?"

"Twelve thousand three hundred and sixty one kilograms." The computer answered.

"Lighter than I expected, things are looking up," Jason hooted. "Can you do me a favor," Jason pulled his spear out and held it up towards the floor of the life pod. "Could you take the blade off of this for me?"

After attaching the rope to the life pod's bottom, near the propellers, and firmly wrapping the rope around the obelisk Jason began winching the rope taunt from between the two in the open expanse of water above the valley. The life pod lazily let itself be dragged over the valley until it was directly above the obelisk. The pulley Jason had welded to the end of his spear, which was welded to the bottom of the pod, was keeping it from flipping around as the last of the slack was winched, leaving the side of his pod slightly dipped down by the rope holding it firm. In hopes he would just have to tighten the wench until the life pod flipped back over again, but it seemed too simple to work. Jason surfaced to check the pulley before diving back down and continuing. Jason could see as he winched that the side of the pod with the propellers was rising up steadily. A sudden crunch below threatened to break his arms as he struggled with the winch. The rope was secured in the crumpled out section of the obelisk and was now threatening to release the top of the structure from its anchor. Jason released the winch and writhed as the muscles and joints of his arms cried out in pain. His mind was suddenly clouded with frustration with how to proceed, but it was cut short by the obelisk crashing from where it stood down toward the foliage below.

Jason had just enough time to grab hold of the rope as the now-upright life pod plunged down with the structure. Jason pulled the blade that was attached to the end of his spear from his tank's strap and furiously attempted to cut the rope that was holding the two together. The obelisk broke through the canopy below, disappearing behind the green slightly; Jason was only a few meters above the foliage himself when the rope finally gave out. He was yanked upwards with a force that nearly caused the air in his lungs to be blown out their sides. Letting go of the rope he swayed limply in the water, looking up as the life pod tore upwards before the frothy waves in its wake disturbed the water above and sent the light below dancing crazily.

Jason got a hold of himself and waited for the adrenaline to disperse from his bloodstream. Flipping around he could see a scar where the obelisk had barreled down the step hill of the valley to its center. A large black shape was swimming back and forth in and out of the clear area, investigating the sudden change to its home. Jason slowly made his way upward, trying to be gentle on his lungs. Looking down he saw the black shape suddenly retreat back into the plants as a particularly large-bright green fish that looked to be nearly flattened against the bottom came into view and sat down near its center. Jason was too far above it to understand what it was doing, by now he was closing in on the surface and doubted the creature below had any idea of his existence. From below the canopy the giant-black serpentine creature slithered out, hugging the foliage as it crept towards the edge of the scar. Just as it began to peak over the edge the green creature bolted through the plants with the serpentine creature close behind.

For some distance the fish like creature would streak through the canopy a small distance and then back down again, but the black creature couldn't be shaken and eventually the two did not emerge again from the plants again. Jason looked up to see the pod above; he had nearly run into the spear that was still welded to its bottom. He hit the hatch and climbed inside. Jason retrieved the screen from within the heap of spare parts and picked out the propellers controls as well. His heading had changed from east, towards the survivor, to south, towards his section of the Aurora. Now that he had fixed his mistake he was once again faced with the question of which direction he would head. It would take a long time to find the survivor and get back to the beacon, but if he stayed and somehow found a way down he may be able to save both of them sooner. But if he failed the other survivor will have no idea about what he tried to do, what he has to do.

The answer was already clear, but it was frightening. Even if he found a way to get to the broken section he has no idea what he would find there. The only thing more frightening than the prospect of what may lay hidden in the large expanses of incredibly deep ocean was the idea of being stranded because he didn't try when he had the chance. No, this decision was already made for Jason, he had no other choice. Jason got on his smaller air tank and popped the top hatch, guiding his life pod farther south, and keeping control of the speed.

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	9. Chapter 9

Subnautica Fan Fiction

The Lost Pod Prt. 9

By: Ian Fox

Valentine

Jason had been at it for just over a day now, just skimming quickly across the water's surface. He was sat on the top hatch of the pod with his feet dangling into it while he carefully adjusted and kept control of the pod. He was naked aside from the goggles, that had the edge of the Djúpr drop off as a waypoint, and the air mask connected to its small tank. He hadn't slept the night before; he didn't see much point when it came to speeding across the ocean. If he got tired he could crawl back into the pod, close the hatch, fall asleep, and just pick back up after he wakes up. The only problem was that Jason felt rushed since he was solely responsible for not only his own survival but the other survivor's as well. If they were in trouble right now, and he didn't hurry, he might not be able to save them in time. Unfortunately, even though it took most of his concentration to focus on guiding the pod, it was getting increasingly boring.

He sighed into the mask, looking around at the expansive ocean. It had lost a little bit of its awe after so much time having to deal with its challenges. It would still captivate Jason when he would catch a sunrise or when the water would be stone-still and reflect like a giant mirror. But on the average wavy day it was a menacing overkill of expansive ocean in his eyes, something he would have to overcome. The waves had gotten slightly larger in the past hours, but his life pod continued to slice through them with ease.

The boring nature of this trip left him to think about how far he had come. He had thought that he might die on this merciless planet. But now he had a real, tangible chance to be rescued. No, he couldn't die here if he tried, he's much too stubborn to lie down and die. He chuckled to himself; he would build a goddamn rocket ship before he died on this little planet. The thought of how exactly he would get to the rescue beacon now that he had rendered his life pod's hull inadequate for any kind of real decent. He had been mulling it over for a while and had figured out a possible solution. It's the only one he had really thought of that wouldn't require building a deep ocean submarine from scratch, which made it appealing. It all relied on one thing; the computer.

If the computer had the actual schematics of the life pod he could find some way to get it to build him a new one, with an undamaged hull. Jason locked the controls so that the propellers would stay at a steady pace while he climbed down into the pod. Only half way down the ladder he called out to the computer.

"Computer?" Jason cooed.

"At your service." The computer replied coldly.

"You wouldn't happen to have a schematic for this life pod, would you?" Jason asked, a little afraid of the answer.

"Two life pod schematics on record." The computer said quickly.

"Two!?" Jason shouted happily.

"Affirmative." The computer said dryly.

"Which would you recommend to get to the rescue beacon?" Jason asked, reaching from halfway down the ladder to the small doors that hid the 3-dimentional construction module.

"Neither. That decent should be made in a vehicle suited to-." The computer responded quickly.

"Yeah, but let's just say I don't have one and my life depends on getting down there." Jason interrupted, forcefully pulling down on one of the doors until it broke open.

"Updated model recommended." The computer said after a moment.

"Updated model?" Jason scoffed.

"Update was postponed due to the mayday of the Aurora." The computer informed Jason.

"Hey," Jason said, stopping what he was doing to show his hands. "You don't have to explain yourself to me."

Jason popped his head out of the hatch to make sure they weren't in any danger before hopping down from the ladder back to the life pod floor. In front of him were a few 3-D printed solar panels and the life pod's 3-dimentional construction module; just the sight of it made Jason uneasy. It was intense to take apart something he relied so heavily on without _really_ knowing how it worked. But it was something that in his heart he knew he'd be able to figure out, and because of that the risk was worth the reward. Jason just had to take his time, he couldn't afford any big mistakes, if he damaged the module he wouldn't be able to make a new one.

He started by popping off a few of the protective layers and began trying to understand what each of a tangle of wires was even meant for. Jason sighed, he would need to write things down, and take a long time making sure everything he was doing was correct. Jason decided to just wait until he made it to the drop off.

"One thing at a time, don't rush." Jason whispered, rubbing his tired eyes.

Perhaps it was even time for some sleep, if he was able to sleep long enough he'd be able to pick back up before the sun rose. He turned off the controls and as the pod crept slower the propellers began to quiet. Jason popped his head up out of the pod one last time before closing the hatch. He looked around, water as usual, but there was… Jason had been too quick; his hand was already hitting the controls before what he saw reached his thoughts. The hatch slid shut with a light hiss and opened with the same hiss after he smacked the control again. This time he took a moment, really looking around. There was nothing there now, whatever it had been… It was above the water, wasn't it? It was standing out there… standing? Was it a person?

"Woooah, not again, we're getting our shit together, finally." Jason said, shaking the thoughts out of his head before retreating and closing the hatch.

He sat on the edge of the storage unit, stretching his back and neck. He stood up to grab a small bite from inside the storage when he heard a knock from outside. It sounded just like someone knocking on one of the automatic doors of the Aurora. For a moment Jason was conflicted about how exactly to proceed. He had felt fairly sane for a while, he wasn't crying as much anymore, and he was able to keep himself on track fairly well. But wasn't that part of going insane? Don't the insane not realize they're insane? If he didn't look there might be something genuinely weird going on, but if he did look he may just be succumbing to his insanity. But, snapping his fingers, he picked up the controls to the propellers and the camera feed.

Bringing them back to the storage unit he poured over the screen as he slowly spun the pod to face where he had heard the noise. It was hard to tell if he was turning, the horizon rarely ever looked different on sunny days. Jason had learned to watch the direction of the wave-breaks to make sure he was turning correctly while inside the pod. When the camera finally faced the direction the noise had come from, there was nothing there, only the ocean looking back. Jason felt almost unsatisfied with that and continued to turn the craft. It was building momentum as he turned so he moved to adjust it when something went across in front of the camera. It didn't look like an animal, but it had only been there for a moment. It looked as if it were red fabric.

Jason looked away from the camera and shut everything down again. This was his mind playing tricks again, the fragile tapestry of distraction was falling away again. Jason laid down on the storage unit, crossing his arms and squeezing into the wall but, try as he might, sleep did not come. Every time he would clear his thoughts the vision would come back to haunt him. By the time the knocking started again he had tried to re-remember what he had seen, poking his head out of the pod, enough times for his imagination to take control. Whenever his mind would drift back to it he would see a woman in a red dress standing on the water. It plagued him until the knocking started again.

At first it was light, as if the person were politely asking to come in, but Jason shook his head, and it got more forceful. Banging, an endless banging. At one point it sounded as if all of the ghosts form the Aurora were taking turns trying to break into his pod. He continued to shake his head, over and over, endlessly until his neck and head began to beat with pain. Suddenly he stood up, the woman in his pod in front of him, looking calmly back into his angry eyes.

"ENOUGH!" He screamed at her, almost spitting on her face.

The face was a familiar one, the jaw line one he had traced many times before in his life, and in his dreams. It was Valentine. Before starting to build the propellers he had forced himself to scrape her name from the side of his life pod, it had taken him almost a whole day. But here she stood, seemingly flesh and blood before him.

"What!?" Jason shouted at her again.

Jason was breathing heavily, looking at her as she looked back at him, her eyes unwavering, unblinking. Frustrated, Jason paced around her, pounding on the walls of the pod.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang," Jason yelled as he continued, with faster and harder hits until he faced her again. "You're in now! So tell me _what you want_!"

She continued to stare at him, a smile began to crack her neutral expression.

"No! No! You don't get to fucking do that!" Jason was furious, nearly attempting to strike her.

She started to extend her arms, as if to be embraced.

"No!" Jason screamed, pushing her arms down.

She was the angry one now; the pod seemed to stand still for a moment, before the pounding began again. Jason squeezed his eyes shut before covering his ears. He crumpled back atop the storage until. But it was useless, he knew full well it was all in his head, and that he had no chance of escaping it. He began to cry, but not out of sadness, there wasn't really any emotion behind the tears. It was just something he had control over. He sobbed until the banging stopped again.

"Jason?" Valentine's voice broke the silence.

Defeated he rose, fully clothed and back on the Aurora.

"Oh, hi, it's you," Jason said meekly, rubbing his tired eyes. "I'm so sorry I over slept."

"No, no, that's fine," Valentine laughed, looking Jason over. "Nathan said you usually over sleep."

"Perks of being a boy wonder." Jason responded sarcastically.

"Well, you better hurry if you want to have breakfast with me, boy wonder." Valentine scoffed before leaving.

The question was whether Jason felt inclined to change into a new jumpsuit. Yes, he had fallen asleep in it, but he had changed the night before, and what was that, nine hours ago? In his mind it was still fresh, unfortunately he didn't want to take the chance, this girl wasn't one he wanted to disappoint.

They had met by accident, Jason running because he had over slept, Valentine because she had forgotten something in the mess hall. All it took was one sharp corner and Jason had nearly thrown the girl down the hall as they collided. Jason almost wanted to die when he looked down to see this beautiful girl looking back up at him, her face twisted slightly in pain. But she didn't get upset with him, before he helped her up she had already apologized three times, and Jason had to fight with her that it was, in fact, his fault. There was a joke passed between them, something one of them had said, Jason couldn't really remember what it was. But when they finished laughing Valentine tried to excuse herself and continue in the opposite direction of Jason.

"I'm sorry, again, but I need to get to the mess hall, I left my clearance pass at breakfast." She said, beginning to walk away.

Jason had never been one for social interaction, before the Aurora he rarely concerned himself with a thing like that. But as Valentine began to turn away, about to just be another face of the Aurora to Jason, he couldn't let that just happen.

"Breakfast?" Jason suddenly vomited after a moment of uncertain silence.

"What?" Valentine said walking backwards, but still walking away.

"Breakfast! I mean, we should have breakfast tomorrow." Jason said quickly, laughing at himself.

Valentine stopped and sat there a moment, really looking at Jason. It was torturous, after only a second of it he was sure that she would say no, hopefully she would be polite about it.

"Okay," Jason tried desperately to catch his surprise but it made it to his face before he could react. "What's your quarters?"

"53042." Jason said, to which Valentine pulled out a pen and wrote it on her wrist.

"Which section?" Valentine asked after waiting for a moment, her eyebrow cocked.

"G." Jason smiled, a little embarrassed.

After Jason had changed into a fresh jumpsuit he found Valentine waiting outside his door for him.

"Nathan let you in, huh?" Jason smiled, leaning with his shoulder on the wall next to her.

"Well, I knocked, he pounded on the door, and you still didn't answer." Valentine shrugged.

They started to make their way down the corridor, towards the lifts that would bring them to the mess hall.

"How come I've never seen you before?" Jason asked after seeing that they both sported technician badges.

"I see you every day, Jason." Valentine laughed.

"What? How?" Jason said, stepping into the lift and hitting a button so that the two would descend.

"You take care of the geological scanning equipment and I take care of the biological." Valentine answered.

"They use the same equipment." Jason said, a little confused.

"Exactly, boy wonder." Valentine teased, giggling.

"I always thought you guys who got to look at all the alien creatures have a pretty sweet job." Jason admitted.

"Well, I don't do much looking at alien critters," Valentine said as they stepped out of the lift. "More wiping lenses and hanging wires than anything."

As they rounded the corner to the mess hall the corridor widened and somewhere around a hundred of the Aurora's inhabitants nearly exited the mess hall at once. They had missed breakfast because of Jason.

"Looks like we're too late." Valentine said, an eyebrow raised with slight annoyance.

"I'm sorry, this is completely my fault, I shouldn't have picked breakfast," Jason said trying to avoid her gaze. "I just didn't know how to say that I wanted to see you again, and you mentioned breakfast."

"You don't like breakfast?" Valentine asked, a small look of disbelief in her eyes.

"No, its just I usually sleep through it." Jason laughed.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to try again." Valentine looked up at Jason, probably recognizing the same surprised look she had seen the day before.

"Yeah, I'd really like that." Jason said after regaining his composure.

"I'll see you around, boy wonder." Valentine gave a little sneer before quickly walking off, leaving Jason to smile by himself, leaned against the wall.

It would be the first day of many where Valentine would leave him for her work and he would sit there and replay their interaction in his head over and over. Until he re-remembered it enough times for his imagination to destroy the perfectly good memories with 'should have', and 'could have' ideas that were outlandish or impossible. This was what brought Jason back to the present moment, the fact that he was remembering their first experience how it had happened; without the distractions his mind created afterwards.

Jason was sat on the Storage unit, leaned over with his face in his hands and his elbows on his knees. He had a smile on his face, and the memory's chemicals were still swirling over his brain. He released himself to them, letting them waver in his brain for as long as they could. But eventually they faded, and he was left staring at his bare feet and scarred arms. Valentine wasn't in the life pod, of course she wasn't, but he could still feel her rattling around in his head, waiting for him to put his guard down again.

Jason stood, putting his goggles and tank back on before grabbing up the controls and opening up his pod to the night sky above. He silently powered up the propellers before returning to his heading and moving forward, this time with a little more haste, he didn't know how long he'd be able to keep her in his head before she came to torment him again.


	10. Chapter 10

Subnautica FanFic  
Author: Ian Fox  
Prt. 10

Progress 

It was impossible to follow the passage of time. Jason would break out of his insanity long enough to work on his task, but then slip back into it the second his mind cleared. He had tried everything, but realized quickly that he wouldn't be able to fight it. Valentine was always around now, waiting for him to drop his guard so she could drag him kicking and screaming out of reality. He rarely slept, never wanting to close his eyes for more than a fraction of a second. If he tried to rest his eyes, she would be there waiting for him.

He was out of food, although he had no memory of ever being hungry, and his body felt as if he had gotten into a fight with a star cruiser. But, for now, he was sane. He opened his eyes after an extremely traumatic hallucination of watching Valentine slowly burn to death as the Aurora crashed. He shook it off, that was all Jason could really do. He wearily stumbled over to his construction module that was now attached to a robotic arm which was bolted to the floor of his pod. He had ripped the wires that connected the constructer from the walls of his pod, and had only to re-connect them to test out his work.  
However long he had been here, perhaps weeks, months even, he had been on top of his work when he wasn't spiraling in depressing insanity. He was so close to completion, if he wasn't so burnt out he'd likely be celebrating. It took Jason so long just to make every wire distinguishable from their counterparts that connecting them together after so long felt almost therapeutic. His stomach churned as hunger pangs crippled him momentarily. He grasped at his abdomen, pleading aloud for the pain to pass. Eventually it did, but looking down at his thinning body he knew he had to do something about it.

"Two more wires." He said in a raspy whisper that caused him to start coughing uncontrollably.

He couldn't keep his hands still log enough to even grasp the right wire. Struggling to his feet as he coughed he rushed to the water purifier and guzzled heavily. Jason dropped to the floor again writhing as his stomach revolted against the liquid. When it ended he shakily retrieved his wet suit, composition scanner, and new, longer, spear. Smacking open the bottom hatch he limply slid into the water. Had he even been out of his pod since he got here?

Looking down Jason was startled by the seemingly infinite inky black that lay below. How the hell was he supposed to get food here? He swam around lazily for a while, just trying to spot something. But he was so tired, after only a few minutes every muscle in his body to screaming with pain. Another bout of pain from his stomach left him limp in the water, tears flowing into his goggles. He squeezed them shut, but wrenched them open again when he saw her face waiting for him there. If he didn't kill himself, it would likely be the thought of her that would take him down.

He began weakly coaxing himself to drift towards his pod. Looking up he could see large green ropes extending down from his pod into the depths. Jason struggled to focus his vision, he hadn't seen them before. Getting closer he would see that they were in fact some kind of plant; it almost looked like a kind of kelp or seaweed. It's roots were webbed into the thick gunk that was still glazed over the underside of Jason's pod. It was the only life that Jason could see for a seemingly endless distance in any direction.

Fumbling ahold of his composition scanner he scanned in the plants' general direction. As he hoped, it was edible, plenty of common and necessary vitamins, proteins, and minerals. The gunk was rich in many things as well, even more than the plants, but Jason would starve before he put that ooze anywhere near his mouth. The very thought of if caused his stomach to turn again, he quickly gripped one of the plants and began reeling it in from the darkness below. They made the life pod look like a giant jelly fish, dead and floating on the water's surface, at the mercy of the waves.

Heavily tossing himself back into the pod he took a large bunch of the plant and threw it into stasis inside his storage unit. He was left with a handful of the stuff, dripping water and reeking of the ocean. Jason took a deep breath, expecting the worse, and almost as soon at the substance hit his tongue his stomach again began to try and wrench itself from inside of him. Jason was tired of the pain, and continued to eat the plant anyway. It was horrendous, Jason was never one for vegetables of any kind, but he was still able to stomach them. This, this was something brought into the universe if only to torture whatever creature was unlucky enough to feed off of it.

Once Jason was able to get it down, it became a serious exercise to _keep_ it down. His stomach revolted on its own, but added with the slimy film and bitter taste it seemed he would be puking at any moment. His head spun, and he sat heavily atop his storage unit with his head in his hands. He took several deep breaths as he began to shake in a terrifying manner. The world began to tilt and waver around him, and he was forced to close his eyes if he wanted to succeed in keeping the foul food down.

But she was waiting there again, and this time Jason couldn't force his eyes open, he was far too weak now.

"Jason?" Valentine asked, tracing shapes into his palm.

They were sitting in Jason's quarters together, Valentine leaning back into Jason's chest with his arms wrapped around her. Jason was trying to savor the experience. There were few things on the Aurora that even came close to making him this happy.

"Yeah, Val?" He responded in a whisper.  
"Are we going to go back to the colonies… together?" She almost sounded upset.

Jason was taken off guard by the question, did she mean that she didn't expect them to see each other after the Aurora's mission was complete?  
"If you want to go back together, I would like that." Jason said honestly, not knowing what to expect.  
"Of course I would," Jason could almost hear her smile. "But the Star Gazer program has never been fair that way."

For a moment they were both silent, because they both knew she was right. Eventually they would be assigned to different sectors of the galaxy, and likely never see each other outside of messages. Jason already had experience with this, his mother died during a fusion breach thousands of lightyears from Jason and his father.  
"That doesn't matter to me. I can already tell you're someone who's never going to leave me." Jason said, almost unconsciously.  
"Do you promise?" Valentine whispered, squeezing his hands.  
"I promise." Jason responded, kissing the top of her head.

For a while they just sat there in silence. She'd have to leave soon. There was always more work than rest. Jason tried to capture as much of the moment as he could, it was something he had never expected to feel. The fact that it would eventually end was a grotesque reality that Jason refused to accept. He wanted every moment for the rest of his life to feel like this one. When Valentine eventually left to return to her quarters Jason turned out the lights and sat up in bed, living the memory over and over again. There was a smile on his face, but it slowly slid into a frown.

When Jason came back to reality he was surprised to see the robotic arm complete. He felt energized, that plant must have had something good in it; his head was clear, there wasn't any static in the background. Walking over to the computer's panel he could see there was only a small amount of coding to do before he could get it up and running. With a raspy laugh Jason hastily flicked his fingers across the screen, trying to get it done as fast as possible.  
"It's almost done! We'll be able to go!" Jason giggled into the empty pod, turning from the screen to look at the empty space behind him with a giant grin.

For a while he stood there with his face an inch away from the screen in silence. He was biting his lip so hard that when he finished he had to check to see if it was bleeding. But it was done, so Jason flew up the ladder and out the top hatch. He didn't even bother with air, it should only take a second to see if this was going to work.  
"Valentine," Jason shouted into the empty pod. "Tell the computer to start building the new pod!"

The computer immediately registered the request and the robotic arm began slowly extending from the top of the pod. It was holding together well, and when it began to bend the construction module over the water it only scraped the side of the open port. Happily Jason squeezed through what opening was left and began dancing around the robotic arm. He ran out of breath quickly and sat heavily atop his storage unit.  
"Huh?" Jason asked between his laughs.

Jason's eyebrow rose, and his laughs trailed into silence.  
"No, you're right," He shook his head dismissively. "We don't know how long we'll be down there. I hadn't even thought about it."

Jason began pacing back and forth, looking at an empty space in his pod and nodding his head.  
"Right, but do you think there's enough there? They were large but I have no idea how long they'll stay good in stasis or if it'll even be enough." Jason's voice trailed off and he began scratching his head furiously.

Jason's hair had grown a little long since his buzz-cut before the Aurora crashed, and as he moved to rub his chin he could feel his once scraggly stubble was a beard just beginning to thicken. His hair had grown more quickly than he expect it to, he had never grown it this long before. It was something he never really wanted to waste time thinking about, there were always more important things he needed to worry about. But now, it almost felt comforting, a growing testament to his strength through the darkness of this world.

Jason snapped his fingers, pointing to the floor of the pod.  
"I can make a little growing chamber, constantly cycle the oxygen and use a normal growth bulb to simulate sunlight." Jason bounced the idea off the empty space.  
"Pressure? Right… Subnautica has a lower depth to pressure ratio than other habitable ocean barring planets because of its size," He began pacing again. "So the pressure difference is going to be minimal, but it's still a problem. Except, would a valve with a pressure gauge be enough? If I just open the valve whenever the pressure gets too high and drain some water, I should be able to keep it balanced with the pod."

He waited with a smile to hear the empty space's response, of course, no answer came. But Jason still clapped his hands together and nodded as he made his way over to where his wet suit and gear were. After getting dressed up he shuffled over to his storage unit to check the alien plant in his stasis box. Luckily, it looked fine, even healthy, it made sense since it had given Jason such a boost. Although, he wasn't sure how long it had been in there and wasn't completely sure why. He gave the empty space a wry smile before beginning to climb out of the top port of his pod. The robotic arm was hard at work, even whining slightly as it moved to complete the body of the pod that was held over the surface with only a few self-stabilizing buoys.

Things were looking up, and knowing what deep water he was in Jason decided to dive off the top of his pod, spearing into the water and curving up to the surface, nearly ripping the goggles off of his face. The sun was waning down, and the depths below looked haunting, especially since Jason only knew a few of the recorded goliaths that the cartography team hit while trying to scan the planet's surface. Those that were known were nothing you wanted to come one on one with. Even before crashing to the surface Jason knew the raw power of this planet's evolutionary ecology.

Being a, nearly, complete aquatic planet that sustains life was something undocumented in-of-itself, that's why the Star Gazer program even held interest in the small primal planet. Although Jason himself debated if it was really primal, and certain geological formations during his own teams' sweep attested to that. Jason had put this hypothesis on hold when he met Valentine. The free time he would have had to bring this forward was, in his opinion, better used on the girl of his dreams.

Jason stroked quickly along the surface, laughing breathily and looking down periodically for any horrors. Once he was under his pod he cut lose all the plants and began reeling them into a gigantic ball. Eventually he realized that attempting to collect the entirety of the plants was a little ambitious, they were still snaking below him into the depths. Jason popped open the bottom hatch and left the massive ball of plant there, with its tendril floating slowly, still hanging into the inky depths. Jason Hoisted himself into the pod after it, tearing the tendrils from the mass of plant and weakly stuffed it into the "Think that's enough?" Jason chuckled.

By the time the sun was going down on the Subnautican horizon the new pod was nearly complete. It looked to be much more sleek, clearly a better model than the one Jason had been living in. Jason's eyelids were heavy, threatening to force sleep upon him. But why not? He couldn't remember why he didn't want to fall asleep, or even close his eyes for too long. So, after searching his memories for the answer and finding nothing, he curled up on the storage unit and let his eyelids close.  
"Huh," Jason grunted, straightening himself against the wall. "Yeah, there's room for both of us."  
In the darkness of his pod Jason allowed himself a victorious little smile, but it slipped away along with his consciousness. When he awoke the next morning he immediately started getting his necessities together. Jason must have checked them over at least a hundred times before he got his wet suit, an air tank as well as a spare, and goggles and threw them all on. Slipping through the bottom port of his life pod Jason hung still in the water for a moment before registering the new pod as a way-point on his goggles. He almost couldn't believe it, progress seemed like such an unattainable treasure on this planet.

And yet, here he was, swimming between the two pods to transfer himself into the one that would bring him down the Djupr drop off. It was almost magical, knowing how close he was to the first of what would probably be many objectives before he was rescued.

Rescued.

The very thought of it made Jason's heart pound as he brought himself into his new pod for the last time. Looking over the inside Jason almost felt as if it weren't really made for him. It was clean, of course, but Jason hadn't seen anything quite this clean since he was on the Aurora. The sight of it fired old synapses that were beginning to gather dust, bringing with it a flood of emotions that Jason had been trying to avoid. He allowed himself to give in to them, if only for a moment. Once he wiped the tears from his face and slipped out of his wet suit he cracked his back and faced the computer's terminal.  
"Computer," Jason called out excitedly. "How long until we reach the rescue beacon?"  
"If submerged within the next minute we will reach the jettisoned section of the Aurora in approximately three hours and fifteen minutes."  
"Make it happen." Jason smiled, sitting himself down on the larger, more luxurious storage unit and listening to the mechanical buoys fill up with water.


	11. Chapter 11

Subnautica FanFiction  
Author: Ian Fox  
Season 2, Part 2

**The Long Dark**

As Jason descended his heart pounded in his ears. He was still constructing the growth chamber for a small portion of the aquatic plant he had gathered the day before. His spirits were high, higher than they had been since he was stranded on Subnautica. It seemed his progress was taking on a life of its own, driving him deeper and deeper into the depths, all he needed to do now was hold on and pray he was strong enough to survive. But he knew he was, because he wouldn't have made it this far otherwise.

"It's going to be a long decent, you should get comfortable." Jason smiled to an empty space in the life pod's cabin.

Of course, there was no response, but Jason giggled as if he had just teased someone. In his mind Valentine was standing there, her back against the wall, her arms crossed, wearing a crimson dress that flowed regardless of the lack of breeze, and she was sneering at his remark. He stood up and brushed his hand against the back of her cheek, although there was nothing but air in front of where he stood. She remarked at how impressed she was in his veracity to survive.

"Couldn't have done it without you." He shrugged, returning to his seat.

She chuckled, shaking her head. You still don't get it, she said to him silently from the darkest corner of his mind. Jason was taken aback, what was that supposed to mean? He had to put the thought away for a moment, there was a groan in hull from the pressure and he moved to the computer to investigate. Everything was seemingly fine. The pod was just equalizing pressure, nothing to be worried about. Turning back Jason saw she was sitting where he had been only a few moments before. He joined her there.  
She took his hand and began playing with his fingers, like she did when they were back on the Aurora. He had a sense of longing; as if he had missed the way it felt to have his hand in hers. But that didn't make any sense, because she had been here the whole time with him. So Jason tried to shake the feeling from his mind, there was no need to feel that way. He was going to rescue them both.

The trip wasn't that long, only a few hours to reach the jettisoned section of the Aurora, but the seconds crawled by as he stared into her eyes. She stood, turning her back to him and running her fingers through her blonde hair. He looked upon her, completely captivated in her being there, in that moment feeling nothing but love. But he felt something deeper, his heart was aching and he couldn't place his finger as to the reason why.

"Do you remember how nervous I was when we finally had breakfast together for the first time?" He asked her.

Her head turned and he caught a glimpse of her smile as she nodded.

"Could barely hold a fork, let alone eat anything," Jason recounted. "Never even took a bite of that french-toast."

Her smile was wide now, and Jason stood to wrap his arms around her from behind. Jason was doing nothing but holding onto air, kissing softly on a cheek that wasn't even there.

"You were disappointed. I wouldn't shut up long enough to try your favorite food."

She turned to embrace him, her cool-green eyes staring into his own again. He put his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. You ate them the next time; his mind fabricated each enunciation in her voice perfectly.

"And I hated them." Jason laughed.

He opened his eyes to find she was against the wall again. She had a frown on her face. He let his arms fall to his sides and studied the girl. Was she still angry about that, even after all this time? I'm dead, that was all she said to him. But the words didn't make it to Jason's brain, he refused to hear them.  
"Sorry, Val," Jason scratched at the back of his head. "I didn't mean to upset you."

She continued to just stare at him, her face twisted with disgust. Jason felt insecure, he felt as if he had missed something important to her.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked the wall, trying to reach out to her.

But she recoiled at the sight of his extended hand, moving away from it. I'm dead, she repeated.

"Hey, talk to me, tell me what's wrong. I'm sorry." He pursued her.

Now she was becoming frantic, diving to avoid him, repeating the statement over and over again. Jason had a look on his face like he was just stabbed in the gut, and moved to try and help her back to her feet. But she squirmed away from him before lashing out, her nails dragging painfully over his face. Jason leaped away from her, roaring as he put his hands over a wound that wasn't really there.

"Jesus, Val," Jason shouted at her. "What the hell was that!?"

I'm dead, she shrieked, you know it's true! Jason didn't understand what she meant; the words had no meaning to him, as if their definitions were erased from his mind. There was imaginary blood was on his hands when he looked at them. The blood poured between his fingers unnaturally, streaming towards where Valentine was lying on the floor, the corner farthest from Jason. It bubbled and continued until it looked as if the blood was being drawn into her dress, and she stood, a menacing scowl on her face.

"What is this?" Jason whispered, holding his head as it began to spin from the sight of all his blood.

This is the end for us, Valentine spat at him, we don't belong together.

"Don't say that…" Jason whimpered, his eyes filling with tears.

I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, she was repeating it over and over, each time it made a little more sense to Jason, but he revolted regardless. He squeezed his bloody palms over his ears, even screaming for her to shut up, but her voice was inside him, and he could not overpower it. He dove for his spear, and turned to face her with a wild look in his eyes. She was kneeling over the bottom port of the pod, her hand over the opening mechanism.

"Don't you fucking _dare_," He screamed at her, holding the spear up as if he was going to drive it through her chest. "You'll kill us both!"

I'd rather be dead than stuck here with _you_, she hissed at him, lowering her hand closer to the mechanism.

"Val, no-" Her hand slammed down on the mechanism and Jason flew forward, feeling a make-believe resistance as the spear tore through her ribs and into her heart.

The port didn't even open. Jason was standing on it now paralyzed by the shock of what he had done. A horrified groan escaped his lips, she was choking and wheezing, but she had a smile on her face.

"Why," He cried out at her. "Why did you do that?!"

I'm dead Jason, she sputtered, remember? Jason's head spun, he was sobbing in between his groans of pain.

"No! No, you've been with me this whole time!"

She stood now, blood oozing from her mouth, she talked but her lips did not move. I died because you _left_ me to die, she said numbly. Jason dropped to his knees, the pod's floor completely covered in their blood. It was filling the cabin, crawling up towards Jason.

"No, that's not true…" Jason shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

Yes, it is, she spoke to him still, it's your fault I'm dead. He looked up at her his eyes burning with tears. The blood was as high as her knees, and the spear protruded grotesquely from her chest towards him. The blood flowed between her teeth as she smiled coldly at him. There was another groan from the hull, and it shook the pod, sending the blood sloshing around them.

"I waited for you," Jason said, lifting his arms out of the blood and watching it drip into the pool of the stuff around him. "You made it to the pod and we left. Together."

No, you left me to die. The cabin was now echoing with her screams of terror, it sounded as if a hundred nails were scraping the outside of the pod. Jason didn't respond, his eyes went dead and he stared at her a moment longer. Then he rose, sloshing through the retreating pool of blood. You killed me, she howled as he reached the terminal on the wall, his face devoid of all emotion. There was a breach in the hull, and he made the necessary adjustments to compensate for it.

She repeated it over and over. You killed me. You. You left me to die along with everyone else. You're a _monster!_ Jason dropped to his knees, they clanged against the sterile white floor of the life pod. He collapsed onto his side, staring blankly at the cabin wall in front of him. Her voice began to trail off as his mind pieced itself back together. The real memories of his experience returned like eedles being pushed into his brain.

"We have reached the jettisoned section of the Aurora." The computer said, completely uncaring.

Jason continued to just lay there. Mumbling to himself about how he could have waited just a little longer, he could have saved _someone_ besides himself. But he didn't, in his panic he left as quickly as he could. Maybe Valentine had made it to the life pod bay, just as his was closing up. Maybe he had left her to die. The thought of it made Jason puke, he rolled onto his back and the life pod was no longer there, just an infinite darkness. The computer repeated itself, but it sounded as if it were talking from the other end of the universe.

In the darkness several dots of light appeared, strings of them waving around aimlessly. A single phosphorescent eye searched the darkness, and eventually spotted Jason. A sting of lights curled around his leg and jerked him. He didn't resist, he could feel himself being pulled through the infinite darkness. It pulled him closer and closer to the eye, which studied him thoroughly before releasing him. He hung in the darkness before it, not caring what would happen next.

Let me die, he thought, just let me die, you son of a bitch.

No, it responded simply, grabbing onto him again and yanking him downward viciously. He gasped, his eyes shooting open to reveal he was curled up in a puddle of his own sick.

"We have reached the jettisoned section of the Aurora." The computer repeated again.  
Jason just laid there, willing all of existence to just end his life.


	12. Chapter 12

Subnautica Fanfiction  
Author: Ian Fox  
Season 2, Part 3

**Dream Watchers**

Jason had no choice but to take two days and recover from his delusion, deep in the depths of the Djupr drop off that outlined one of the few oceanic tectonic plates of the world. Since there were so few, and the planet was substantially small compared to other habitable planets, these drop-offs, most especially Djupr, seemed to almost reach down into the center of Subnautica's core. The small planet's oceans were far deeper than anyone would have dared to guess before the Aurora began its sweep of the planet. Perhaps if they had been able to complete their work they would have known which was the deepest, if it was not Djupr.

Luckily the jettisoned section of the Aurora was caught on a large protrusion that stuck out of the shelf's sheer cliff. From the holograms the computer displayed before Jason's cold, emotionless eyes he could see a giant gash in the hull of the section, with the protrusion at its top, holding the section firm, and giving Jason a way in. In his two days Jason had gone over every program, imagined how to warp those programs to suit him, and completed the plants' growth chamber. For as long as he had it, he would have a substantial food source. But all of this brought Jason no joy; he wasn't doing this for himself, so why should it?

He had convinced himself so thoroughly of Valentine's continued existence, so it felt as if he had crashed once again into the malevolent waters of Subnautica for the first time. For those few days of insanity he felt as if he had his world back. The only thing he truly wanted, but, then again, maybe that was the only reason he was still alive, and at the first of his two destinations. When he awoke on the third day his first thoughts were not of his only love in life, it was not of his father, who had passed away in the years while Jason was traveling at near-light speed with no way of talking to his son, no, nothing like that came to him.

It was the feeling of being tired, simply tired. He had slept heavily through many hours of the last two days, but still when his eyes opened he felt as if he were awake the entire time. He had no frown on his face, but no smile either, for that matter. His face was blank, and gave no of hint of the broken man behind its stony dispassion. He was so much more than just eager, there wasn't any expression that came to mind that could capture what he was feeling; every fiber of his being was done with this place, done with this hardship.

Jason, who he was, all that made him up, had stepped away. Folded neatly in a locker, within a lightless room, aboard an empty starship, that is where the true Jason was, with only an empty vessel sitting in his place. He was still there, listening, watching, taking guesses, but it was akin to waking up to check an autopilot, you just had to make sure it hadn't bugged out to send you into a sun, or asteroid, or worse, like a habitable planet. The real Jason couldn't take this place any longer, if he were to try he would simply end his own life, there was no other way to put it. But as the thought flickered momentarily along the neurons of his brain, no matter how appealing it seemed in that moment, he still had work to do.

Jason could end his own life, he had such little regard for it at this point he had already used the 3-dimensional construction module to purify a precursor of cyanide and had a single tablet of the stuff wrapped in plastic within his storage locker. It was waiting for him to be done, because he did not care about dying a meaningless death any longer. But he could not make Valentine's death meaningless, nor his father's, nor any of the dead of the Aurora, because as long as he could help rescue the survivor who knew not of his existence, their deaths could mean something.

Once done with this last desperate attempt to make his dead live through someone he may not even know, possibly never know, then he could go. Jason would shuffle from this mortal realm to whatever waited for him after, if anything even did. Because living even one day more after that on this world would be like living through an eternity there; each moment already was.  
"Computer," His voice was like the cold wind of Trondheim, the tundra world. "Being program sequence 26-D-7 using the emergency drone, feed me a holographic view of what it sees."  
"Program sequence 26-D-7 initialized," There was a hiss as the drone's camber that was embedded in the hull of his pod equalized pressure to the depths outside, and a pop as it opened. "Sequence complete, in-route to Rescue Beacon 52-Mark-F"

It was on the level directly below the one he had lived on for fourteen months, but the Jason who would have recognized that had shut his eyes, and so this information went unnoticed by him. The holographic feed was precise, and the drone flew easily into the section of the Aurora, weaving through the now vertical hallways towards its objective. Jason's eyes glazed over, now he sat frozen, thoughtlessly waiting for stimulus to be provided.

He did not notice, or even think to notice, the strange shapes that curled and moved away from the drone's path. There were hundreds of the creatures, their tentacles spotted with biological lights that flashed to one another, communicating. Jason did not realize the significance because he was simply absent. But in exactly one hundred years, two months, and four days after today, the day he would activate the rescue beacon, and governments along with help from the Star Gazer program would dispatch a rescue vessel, his pods' memory would be copied and humans over the expanse of space would know that they were not alone.

They would see Jason's struggle, they would see him at his worst, and at his best. Ultimately they would see him burrow deep within himself, and mindlessly discover the first sentient race humanity would discover among the stars. A race no less human than humanity; but ultimately too alien to have any casual relation with. Humans would attempt to study them in secret, and fail, for in their dreams the alien race that would be known as Dream Watchers would be studying the strange creatures that named themselves Humanity. Through Jason they had learned everything they could before his inescapable death, they probed the darkest corners of his mind, and, like humanity eventually would, watched as he died.

Regardless of that, they would, each member of their alien society, live through Jason's eyes his entire life. From his earliest memories to his very last, and they would pass his life memories down from generation to generation, long after Jason had decomposed to dust. They too had discovered that they were not alone, and cherish dearly the fact that with all of humanity's technology and wisdom their brothers who flew among the stars are just as fragile as they themselves. They would love Jason, and his memories would eventually be all they had left of him, through them Jason would live for eons on Subnautica. So in a sense, even after death, he would still be alive on Subnautica, and he would be tied to this world for as long as these creatures lived. But he would not be the only life they would remember before more humans would come and become their memories to share, since there was another.

Jason would die ignorant of this, and that was probably for the best. Once the drone had hold of the rescue beacon Jason awoke just long enough to utter "Bring it back". The drone would, of course, and it would be stored with the drone inside of its chamber. Jason ordered the computer to begin ascent so that he could activate the rescue beacon. As his pod moved up through the darkness the part of him that was tucked neatly away where it could not be heard by his mind would feel something, for an instant. A matter of milliseconds, for the feeling would be appropriately pushed away, but the part of him in hiding would realize that although it came from within him, it did not begin there, but in fact somewhere else entirely.

The feeling would be one that he felt often months before, as much as two or three times a day. It would wash over him as Valentine's nose would wrinkle when her sneer began, as the wry smile began to dimple her cheeks, and ease him into a bliss as she teased him while she walked away; "See you around, boy wonder". They knew where he was hiding, because they knew him as well as he knew himself, and they gifted him that memory just long enough not to destroy him. Instead he uncurled momentarily, just long enough for his conscious mind not to notice. They gave him what he needed so desperately, a moment of love.

A tear raced delicately over his cheek and along the edge of his nose, and it dried unnoticed in the hours of slow, steady ascent. Without even a thought, not even celebration, he ordered the drone to the bottom hatch of his pod after reaching the surface. Once it got there with the safety beacon he activated it, after a few minutes of hollow trial and error, and immediately ordered the drone back without a thought. He shuffled over to his storage unit and sat down, staring blankly at whatever it was that happened to be in front of him.  
"Computer, adjust heading to the projected landing site of the only recorded survivor of the habitation vessel Aurora."  
"Affirmative."

The pod whirred as motors turned it for an amount of time Jason didn't notice.  
"Heading ad-."  
"Take me there."  
"Affirmative, estimate-" The computer talked but Jason was already gone again, deaf and blind to the universe.

The entirety of the Dream Watchers mourned as one, because at that moment they knew Jason was already dead. He was dead and he died never knowing what they were trying to communicate to him, because he had no way of understanding them. He died not knowing something that could have saved him, so they had failed him in the end. In their failure Jason had lost his chance to know something so vastly important to the Dream Watchers that the two humans who survived the crash of the Aurora would be seen as legend in their society until humans returned to them again one hundred years, two months, and four days later.

On the shore of the largest of the few Subnautican islands, the one designated for terraforming, just a few degrees off of the heading Jason was following, someone dug their toes into the sand. Her knees were hugged against her chest, and she was crying silently. Behind her, built into a dazzling rock-arch, was a base she constructed using a hand-held 3-dimensional construction module. Inside were the trinkets of her self-imposed distraction, which she worked so hard to always keep, because she dared not to be alone with her own mind.

Gigantic tanks, pet-projects left half complete, countless works of art, and several hand written flora and fauna reports, some hundreds of pages long. She had survived easily, but in that she found herself believing herself alone. Her hair was cut shorter than it had been on the Aurora, the last of several hair styles that had kept her from thinking too hard about her position in the universe. But it still shined brightly in the twilight of the setting Subnautican sun, the world's wind caught it, lifting it to shimmer in the breeze. Only five minutes before she completed what would be the last piece of art she would ever attempt on Subnautica.

At least, it was art to her, although it was just a large canvas with black letters written of giant cursive strokes. When she began, she had no intention of the letters being on the canvas, but something outside herself drove her to write them, and as she did she trembled with the weight of her life on her shoulders. She threw the brush brutishly at one of the many glass windows that allowed her a view of the ocean, attempting, but failing, to break the largest of them. She ran out, for what the letters spelled only forced her mind to remember, and remember without mercy or concern for her.

The letters spelled "Jason". 


End file.
